Limited progress: Malir 15 flyover to face further delays

KMC has still not been granted an NOC to construct one of the ramps by the railways department.

KARACHI: The construction of a flyover at Malir 15, meant to ease traffic at one of the busiest traffic corridors in Karachi, Sharae Faisal, has hit another snag as it emerged on Monday that the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) has not been issued a no-objection certificate (NOC) by the Pakistan Railways to complete the ramp at the Azeem Pura side.

The Rs996 million project should have been completed by December last year. The completion date was, however, extended till June 2015 due to several issues such as the deteriorating law and order situation, encroachments, delay in the release of funds from the Sindh government and the slow pace of work by contractors.



To keep track of the progress, Karachi Commissioner Shoaib Ahmed Siddiqui had held weekly meetings with the relevant officials to ensure the bridge was completed on time. With the commissioner at the helm, most of the issues had been taken care of and the work was progressing swiftly. "I have already resolved most of the problems, including the issuance of the NOC from the railways department," claimed Siddiqui. "I don't know why the KMC administrator has not contacted the railway officials regarding the Azeem Pura ramp," he said.

"Since the KMC is the executive body looking after the construction of these bridges, the questions about delays in getting NOCs and other issues should be directed to the administrator," he replied in response to a question.

Earlier, the KMC's director for technical services, Niaz Ahmed Soomro, had claimed that the bridge would be completed by the next deadline of June 30, 2015, as all the issues had been resolved and 70 per cent of the work on the flyover had been completed. The director had claimed that the Azeem Pura ramp was also complete.

Despite repeated attempts to contact them, the KMC administrator and technical services director could not be reached for comments. In fact, Soomro switched off his phone after hearing the question regarding the delays in the construction work.

Malir Halt flyover

Meanwhile, the construction work of the Malir Halt flyover is going at a steady pace. There were a few minor issues such as the acquisition of land from the railways department, but they were resolved through the commissioner's intervention. "The Rs530 million project was initially delayed due to lack of funds," explained the project director, Khalid Masroor. He added, however, that they hoped to complete the project by the new deadline on June 30 since the funds had now been released.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 27^th, 2015.