KARACHI: On Sunday, Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah discovered that state land was being taken from both sides of the Malir Expressway.
Mr. Shah visited the under-construction expressway and evaluated the project’s progress from Zero Point, near the Jam Sadiq Bridge, according to a statement from the CM House.
The CM then drove from Zero Point to the Shah Faisal interchange on the Malir Expressway.
He noticed on the way that land grabbing had begun along the expressway’s sides. According to the statement, he halted, called the deputy commissioner and SSP of Korangi district on the spot, and inquired as to why illegal structures had begun to develop under their supervision.
According to the statement, he instructed them to demolish the illegal structures and report back to him, saying, “I’ll not allow encroachment on even a single inch of government land.”
Another deadline for the first segment’s completion The CM also expressed dissatisfaction with the authorities’ inability to relocate K-Electric (KE) installations, which has delayed the opening of the first segment of the Malir Expressway.
The CM had given the authorities a number of deadlines to open the first 15 kilometers of the important transportation project, which runs from Jam Sadiq Bridge to Shah Faisal Colony. He asked the appropriate officials to open the first segment by the end of October in September, but he was unsuccessful.
Mayor Murtaza Wahab, the head of the Public-Private Partnership Unit, Asad Zamin, Project Director Niaz Soomro, Engineer Khalid Mansoor, and others welcomed him at Zero Point.
CM Shah expressed displeasure while inspecting the site when he discovered that completed spans were lying on the ground because they could not be installed on the pillars to create a Zero Point traffic ramp.
He was informed upon inquiry that KE had not yet relocated its overhead installations, which was preventing the spans from being fixed to the pillars.
The CM warned the concerned deputy commissioner that he would take action if this problem was not resolved within a week.
He said that KE’s delays were unacceptable because it had already been paid to move its installations.
Mr. Soomro was instructed by the CM to finish his work by the end of November in order to open the first traffic segment in the first week of December.
To check on ongoing construction, Mr. Shah and his team traveled the expressway between Shah Faisal and Quaidabad.
During the briefing, it was mentioned that while the expressway itself was finished, problems with land acquisition had stopped work on the small interchange at Quaidabad.
In order to speed up the opening of the second segment, the chief minister announced that funds for land acquisition had been released and directed prompt payments to landowners.
The CM also went to the toll plaza structures and triangular parks that are being built at Shah Faisal and other interchanges, where grass and trees are being planted to make the areas look better.
In addition, Mr. Shah directed the police department to develop a strategy for establishing police checkpoints to guarantee the expressway’s safety.
