Daily Times

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah on Wednesday approved Rs1.5 billion to repair Karachi roads damaged by the heavy rainfall this monsoon season, a statement from the CM House said.

Monsoon rains have been going on since August 27 in Karachi and have so far been counted at nearly 226 millimetres across all seven districts. As a result, key link roads have caved in, standing rainwater in many areas has mixed with spilling sewage, and thoroughfares have been rendered unusable both for pedestrians and motorists.

On Monday, the Sindh Assembly echoed the concerns and criticism of opposition lawmakers over the damage to roads and streets during the recent short spells of light to moderate rain in the city.

To review the situation, CM Shah today presided over a meeting regarding the repair of rain-affected roads in Karachi.

“It is unacceptable for the quality of work to fall short of standards, and strict action must be taken against those responsible,” the chief minister said, according to the statement, emphasising the need for accountability in the construction and maintenance of public infrastructure.

The meeting, held at the CM House, was attended by Minister of Planning and Development (P&D) Nasir Shah, Minister of Local Government Saeed Ghani, Karachi Mayor Murtaza Wahab, and other officials from the relevant government departments.

The CM directed Ghani to initiate an inquiry into the roads constructed or repaired after 2022 that have since been damaged.

“This shows that the quality of the work was not maintained, therefore, they must be brought to book,” CM Shah said.

Wahab told the CM that 17,861,500 squares of roads had been damaged during the rainfall of 2024.

District Central had 909,500 square feet of damaged roads, East 795,000 square feet, Central 832,000 square feet, West 13,750,000 square feet, Korangi 5,555,000 square feet, Malir 625,000 square feet, and 395,000 square feet of flyovers and bridges.

The CM was told that 120 roads, flyovers, and underpasses in the city needed patchwork, including 20 roads in district South, 22 in East, seven in Central, 38 in West, 11 in Korangi, and 12 in Malir along with a total of 10 flyovers.

He added that around Rs1.5 billion were required to repair and reconstruct the damaged roads, bridges, and flyovers, which were immediately approved by the CM with the directives to carry out “quality work”, according to the statement.

Wahab further told the CM that under the World Bank-funded Competitive and Liveable City of Karachi (CLICK) project, six major works would be started, including the construction of flyover at the Railway Line on Khalid Bin Waleed Road, District Malir, the construction of Mehrunisa Hospital Road leading to Nasir Jum, Ibrahim Hyderi, rehabilitation of road from Bab-e-Khyber to Sector-4, Orangi, construction of road and drainage system from Khawaj Ajmer Nagri Roundabout to Manghopir via Dadex Factory, North Karachi, construction of Captain Kamal Sher Khan Shaheed Football Stadium and Sports Complex, District West and construction of Shahzad Football Stadium, Malir.

CM Shah chaired a separate meeting and identified that 219 roads, totalling 3,545.39km, in Hyderabad Division and 178 roads, totalling 124.81 km, in the Sukkur Division, had been damaged by floods.

He directed the Works and Services dept to estimate the damages and start repair works.

The meeting was also held at CM House and attended by Minister P&D Nasir Shah, Minister Works Haji Ali Hassan Zardari, Chief Secretary Asif Hyder Shah, Chairman P&D Najam Shah, Secretary Finance Fayaz Jatoi, Secretary Works Mohammad Ali Khoso, and others concerned.

CM directed Nasir Shah and Haji Ali Hassan Zardari to sit together with their respective teams to estimate the damages caused by the rainfall to the roads so that they could be approved to start the work.