Karachi: ‘Banaras Chowk flyover to be ready by December’

[Naveed Yaseen]

By Irfan Aligi

KARACHI: The City District Government Karachi (CDGK) has geared up the process of completing the Banaras Chowk flyover so that it could be ready by December this year.

City Nazim Syed Mustafa Kamal visited the flyover site alongwith officers and engineers concerned including Executive District Officer (Works and Services) Rasheed Mughal, EDO (Municipal Services) Masood Alam and contractor and consultant firms’ representatives to oversee the pace of construction work, which as the CDGK claims has been completed up to 50 percent.

On his visit to Banaras Chowk flyover on Thursday night, Kamal while talking to media said the construction of Banaras Chowk flyover was important for the city because it would serve as a key connecting avenue for Orangi and Baldia Towns to the rest of the city. Kamal regretted that due to certain alterations made in its primary design, the completion of the Banaras Chowk flyover was delayed.

He said that the alterations in the design of the flyover were necessary because the primary design had engulfed around 450 residential units and it was unavoidable to demolish those houses, but the design was changed to protect the houses of the poor and at present only three shops would be removed.

According to sources in the CDGK, the PC-1 cost of the Banaras Chowk flyover was primarily Rs 370 million, which has now been increased to Rs 1.10 billion due to the alterations in the basic structure of the flyover. It is joint venture of the Sindh government and the CDGK with both sharing 50 percent expenses. The length of the flyover was increased upto 1.25km following the alterations so that it could bear the increasing load of vehicular movement.

The sources added that the Sindh government releases its share in terms of pecuniary funds on quarterly basis in a fiscal year. However, the recent release was less than the fixed amount of share. Thus it was be impossible to ensure the completion of the flyover by December but since it is one of CDGK’s priority projects, therefore, it was striving to provide funds for the project despite the ongoing severe financial crunch.

The sources further said that the issue of electric high-tension cables has also slowed down the pace of the completion of the flyover because the Karachi Electric Supply Company was demanding Rs 100 million for removing posts and high-tension cables.

The sources also said that the CDGK and KESC would meet today (Saturday) to reach a conclusion to this issue and attempts would be made to convince the KESC for a rational sum of money that could be between Rs 10 million to 20 million as the power utility would only have to pay for the labour while the hard material would remain intact.

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