Two of three underpasses within ‘red zone’ planned

KARACHI, Jan9: The ground-breaking ceremonies for the construction of three underpasses — one each at Shaheen Complex on I.I. Chundrigar Road, PIDC House on Dr Ziauddin Ahmed Road and Mehran Hotel on Sharea Faisal —would be held within a month, it was reliably learnt on Sunday.

All the three proposed underpasses will help bring an end to the traffic bottlenecks on the three vital intersections of the city’s major arteries, according to Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) director-general (technical services) Altaf G. Memon, who said that the projects had already been discussed and okayed in meetings between Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad and Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah at the Governor’s House last month.

The PIDC, Mehran Hotel and Shaheen Complex underpasses have been named after Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Nusrat Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto, respectively. A summary of the projects, costing over Rs1.602 billion, has already been submitted to the chief minister for allocation of funds from outside the provincial government’s Annual Development Programme-2011-12.

Giving details of the projects, Mr Memon said that the estimated cost of the ‘Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto underpass’ at PIDC House was Rs587.69 million, that of the ‘Madar-i-Jamhooriat Nusrat Bhutto underpass’ at Mehran Hotel Rs468.76 million and that of the ‘Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Shaheed underpass’ at Shaheen Complex Rs546 million.

He said that with a view to ensuring quality work and timely completion of all these underpasses, the Sindh governor would be monitoring their physical progress on a fortnightly basis.

Regarding the earlier plan of constructing a flyover near Mehran Hotel, Mr Memon confirmed reports that it had been shelved, saying that some quarters had raised objections over the construction of a flyover and the KMC’s proposal to construct an underpass, instead, was approved.

Meanwhile, sources in the KMC said that by constructing underpasses at Shaheen Complex and at PIDC House in these areas already declared a ‘red zone’, the authorities concerned would be killing two birds with one stone i.e. improving the flow of vehicular traffic on several busy roads and intersections within the vicinity and keeping protesters and
demonstrators away from the Governor’s House and Chief Minister’s House. The off and on traffic jam and rallies within the red zone have become chronic problems for the police and other law-enforcement agencies, they said.