Seven months on, Karachi's Jam Sadiq flyover still not open for traffic
The contractor has been fined Rs0.1 million for the delay
The 23-year-old Jam Sadiq flyover has remained closed for traffic due to repair work since March of this year. Seven months on, it is still not open to public. PHOTO: AYSHA SALEEM/EXPRESS
KARACHI:
A resident of Defense Phase II, Yusra, remembers how the 1.5-kilometer-long Jam Sadiq Flyover used to wobble dangerously every time she drove over it. "The flyover literally used to shake if a heavy truck passed by," she recalls, breathing a sigh of relief thinking of its repair. "A drive over the flyover used to be no less than a nightmare," she complained. She isn't, however, too pleased with the repair work and insists that a new structure should have been constructed instead of simply trying to repair the old one.
The 23-year-old Jam Sadiq Flyover has been closed for traffic due to repair work since March of this year. The work was supposed to be completed by May. Seven months on, with a Rs0.1 million fine imposed on the contractor, Kamran and Company, for the delay, it is still not open to public.
The Karachi Metropolitan Corporation's (KMC) project director, Ibrahim Baloch, claimed it will be open by September 30. He said that work on one track of the flyover was complete and the second track would be completed by the end of this month. However, the completed track is only open for motorcycles.
Baloch said that they could not open the repaired track for now because the vibrations produced by the movement of heavy traffic could affect the track undergoing repairs.
Read: Slow and steady doesn’t always win the race
The flyover was constructed in 1992, a KMC official working on the site told The Express Tribune. He explained that after 23 years, holes had started to appear in the structure, causing accidents.
"The flyover wasn't designed to cater to the heavy traffic that started running on it," said the official, adding that after the construction of the Karachi Port Trust interchange, heavy traffic had started plying on this track, towards Korangi and the Landhi industrial area. "Traffic of the export process zone also passes through this track," he pointed out.
He said that the flyover was never built for such heavy traffic, suggesting building a new structure instead of simply repairing the old one. A summary for a cause way under this structure and a separate bridge was sent to the federal as well as the Sindh government. "But the KMC only ended up receiving money to repair it," he said.
The official feared that the repair work would last not more than five years. He said that the structure was old and they hadn't expanded the flyover. "The deck slabs have been repaired," he said. "If heavy traffic moves on it again, the same problems could arise and traffic would get clogged, as it used to earlier."
According to Baloch, 19 deck slabs have been repaired. He said they had to work very tactfully on the construction site. "We had to make sure if we broke one slab, the others weren't affected by it," he explained.
Justifying the delay in the repair work, Baloch said that the flyover was so old that once the work started, faults beyond their expectations started surfacing. "We were expecting to repair around 10 deck slabs, but we ended up repairing 19," he explained, adding that their cost, which was estimated at around Rs130 million, was raised to Rs140 million.
Enter the Yellow Line
Meanwhile, the KMC's director general for technical services, Niaz Ahmed Soomro, told The Express Tribune that it was not easy to expand the flyover's structure. That would require a lot of funds - something that the KMC simply does not have.
Read: Malir 15 flyover to face further delays
Also, the Bus Rapid Transport's Yellow Line, which is no less than a dream for the people of Karachi, will connect through this flyover. This is a major reason why they decided not to expand the flyover.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 21st, 2015.
A resident of Defense Phase II, Yusra, remembers how the 1.5-kilometer-long Jam Sadiq Flyover used to wobble dangerously every time she drove over it. "The flyover literally used to shake if a heavy truck passed by," she recalls, breathing a sigh of relief thinking of its repair. "A drive over the flyover used to be no less than a nightmare," she complained. She isn't, however, too pleased with the repair work and insists that a new structure should have been constructed instead of simply trying to repair the old one.
The 23-year-old Jam Sadiq Flyover has been closed for traffic due to repair work since March of this year. The work was supposed to be completed by May. Seven months on, with a Rs0.1 million fine imposed on the contractor, Kamran and Company, for the delay, it is still not open to public.
The Karachi Metropolitan Corporation's (KMC) project director, Ibrahim Baloch, claimed it will be open by September 30. He said that work on one track of the flyover was complete and the second track would be completed by the end of this month. However, the completed track is only open for motorcycles.
Baloch said that they could not open the repaired track for now because the vibrations produced by the movement of heavy traffic could affect the track undergoing repairs.
Read: Slow and steady doesn’t always win the race
The flyover was constructed in 1992, a KMC official working on the site told The Express Tribune. He explained that after 23 years, holes had started to appear in the structure, causing accidents.
"The flyover wasn't designed to cater to the heavy traffic that started running on it," said the official, adding that after the construction of the Karachi Port Trust interchange, heavy traffic had started plying on this track, towards Korangi and the Landhi industrial area. "Traffic of the export process zone also passes through this track," he pointed out.
He said that the flyover was never built for such heavy traffic, suggesting building a new structure instead of simply repairing the old one. A summary for a cause way under this structure and a separate bridge was sent to the federal as well as the Sindh government. "But the KMC only ended up receiving money to repair it," he said.
The official feared that the repair work would last not more than five years. He said that the structure was old and they hadn't expanded the flyover. "The deck slabs have been repaired," he said. "If heavy traffic moves on it again, the same problems could arise and traffic would get clogged, as it used to earlier."
According to Baloch, 19 deck slabs have been repaired. He said they had to work very tactfully on the construction site. "We had to make sure if we broke one slab, the others weren't affected by it," he explained.
Justifying the delay in the repair work, Baloch said that the flyover was so old that once the work started, faults beyond their expectations started surfacing. "We were expecting to repair around 10 deck slabs, but we ended up repairing 19," he explained, adding that their cost, which was estimated at around Rs130 million, was raised to Rs140 million.
Enter the Yellow Line
Meanwhile, the KMC's director general for technical services, Niaz Ahmed Soomro, told The Express Tribune that it was not easy to expand the flyover's structure. That would require a lot of funds - something that the KMC simply does not have.
Read: Malir 15 flyover to face further delays
Also, the Bus Rapid Transport's Yellow Line, which is no less than a dream for the people of Karachi, will connect through this flyover. This is a major reason why they decided not to expand the flyover.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 21st, 2015.