Daily Times

KARACHI: The industrial units and trade centers within the jurisdiction of Landhi and Korangi industrial estates (Bin Qasim and Malir) are still waiting for the completion of Malir Road.

The slow pace of repair and maintenance work is causing great distress to the commuters, and there seems to be a complete lack of planning in the construction of the road while substandard and shabby work further worsens the situation.

Mobeen Khan, General Secretary of Landhi Association of Trade and Industry, said Sindh and District Government need to take notice of the fact that the projects initiated by these bodies are often left in the middle and contractors just disappear by leaving industrialists, traders and labor class in the lurch.

He said Landhi and Bin Qasim industrial sectors contribute approximately 25 percent to national exchequer and provide employment to around 400,000 people but due duplicated condition of the roads they are severely affected. Mobeen added that the situation is further compounded by the immense air and noise pollution caused by number of trucks, buses and motor vehicles passing through road.

“The authorities concerned indicate lack of funds as the main reason but they fail to realize that the snail’s pace of the project has resulted in the losses amounting to billions,” added Mobeen. Dawood and Singer roundabouts have been facing severe traffic jams due to diversions.

He said that the Malir-15 Bridge was opened in the ‘public interest’ in February this year but cracks began to appear on the newly-constructed structure. The Sindh government has taken up measures to ensure that the repair and maintenance work of the Malir Road should have completed in time but its still lingering.

District Municipal Corporation (DMC) Korangi Chairman Nayar Raza promised that the work was expected to be completed very soon. The bridge spans 5 kilometres (km) over Malir River, connecting Shah Faisal Town with Korangi. It was inaugurated by Governor Dr Ishratul Ebad in February 2009.

An official of Bin Qasim Association of Trade and Industry, Abdul Rehman, said the industrial life is crawling due to temporary closure of Malir River Bridge.