By Bilal Farooqi

KARACHI: The under-construction three-tier KPT flyover, the first of its kind in the country, being built at Hino Chowrangi on Korangi-Defence Road, has been a centre of attraction lately, not only for those who are impressed by its grandeur and imposing structure, but also those who fear any ‘post-completion defect’ in it, a syndrome commonly found in the city’s uplift projects.

Maybe their concerns stem from the fact that this Rs 594 million KPT-sponsored project is designed by NESPAK, and therefore it is the same combination that delivered the Clifton underpass to the Karachiites. The Clifton underpass had inundated with rainwater during last year’s rains because of lack of a proper drainage system. It had the civic agencies pointing fingers at each other over who was responsible for the fault that had surfaced after the completion of the project.

Some NGOs have also raised objections that they do not have access to the project’s design or been provided any Initial Environment Assessment study, so that they could point out any anomaly, if any, and bring it to the public’s attention. Some had also expressed concerns that pillars were erected in the Manzoor Colony nullah that flows nearby, during the construction of the project, which some feared would act as a barricade to the flow of the nullah water, flooding the Jamshed Town areas during monsoon rains. The delay in the completion of the project has also been criticized, as the stipulated time of its completion was Nov 2006. A few days back, a section of the press had also pointed out that the construction material of the project has lead to regular traffic jams in the area and that the labourers of the project had put them huge camps at public vicinity.

Daily Times approached the project engineer and discussed these public concerns with him. He provided a sketch of the project’s design and spoke at length to address public concerns regarding the project.

"The design in the sketch that been provided to you shows the whole project in a nutshell, just the way it is being built," he said adding: "I guess that settles the issue of not having access to the design."

This is a state-of-the-art project and it is being built to facilitate the people, he said. "We invite all NGOs or anyone else who might have any doubts over the efficiency of the project’s design, to come over with their technical experts and examine the project themselves," he said.

Regarding the issue of an Initial Environment Assessment study, he pointed out that the project is being constructed at a place, which lacks any trees or animal life. There was already heavy pollution at Hino Chowk because of smoke emitting from vehicles stuck in long traffic jams prior to the start of the project and the nullah that flows nearby it, he argued.

"In fact this project will help the environment, by making the traffic signal-free so there will be uninterrupted flow of traffic, resulting in a more clean environment," he said.

Coming to the erection of pillars in Manzoor Colony nullah issue, he said that some temporary work took place in the nullah for a brief period, but now there are no pillars erected in it and the water flow in the nullah is totally uninterrupted.

As for the pace of work on the project, he said, we are working day and night on the project and the pace of work is not hindered in any fashion. "The delay in the completion time was because of the setback the whole city faced during last year’s monsoon rains," he said. "It took it toll on the whole city and development works came to a halt. How could we have remained unaffected." But we are trying our best to complete the project as soon as possible, he added.

Rebutting allegation that the construction material of the project has caused traffic jams, he said that there have been no traffic jams seen during rush hours at the spot. We keep updating our traffic diversion plan and ensure that traffic flow is not hindered, said. As for allegations of setting up labour camps at public vicinity, he said, you can see for yourself that the camps are set up in the vicinity of our site office and such allegation are baseless.