Clifton Bridge inauguration: Malik Riaz urges Pakistanis to invest at home

Bahria Town’s flyovers, underpasses open in Karachi

KARACHI: “Unless our own people invest, we should not expect foreign investment either,” said business tycoon Malik Riaz at the opening ceremony of Bahria Town’s Clifton flyover and underpass near Bahria Icon Tower & Abdullah Shah Ghazi mausoleum on Friday.

The chairman of the largest private housing society in Asia requested business community in the country to step up and start investing in Pakistan rather than directing their capital abroad.

Bahria Town has opened its roads for traffic and pedestrians after completion of a two-year long construction of Clifton Bridge. The project entailing a network of one flyover, three underpasses and two walk-throughs for pedestrians was officially inaugurated by 70-year-old employee Ghulam Jilani in the presence of Bahria Town chief Malik Riaz Friday evening.

Malik Riaz said that initially they had planned two underpasses, but it was increased following the assessment done by civil engineers associated with the project, who suggested that three underpasses could be made instead of two. Standing alongside one of the carpenters involved in the projects of Icon Tower and flyover, Riaz said, “We had decided that we will inaugurate each bridge by the very labours involved in the construction.”

Referring to the issue of a six-month stay which halted the construction of the Clifton Bridge, Riaz left a message for judges. “Pakistan will be successful when judges will stop giving out stay orders,” he said, adding that judges should not give stays until they have listened to the version of the other side.

Speaking of the development of railway and banking industries in the United States from 1865 to 2014, he said majority of such development was done privately instead of a government institution. “Pakistan can be like Europe or US within two years if our judiciary, government and bureaucracy work together,” Riaz remarked.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 2^nd, 2015.