Lyari Expressway project reviewed

The progress of Lyari Expressway construction was reviewed in detail at a high-level meeting held under the chairmanship of Federal Communication Minister Shamim Ahmed Siddiqi here on Saturday. The meeting was attended among others by Chief Secretary Aslam Sanjrani, National Highway Authority (NHA) Chairman Maj General Farrukh Javed and Frontier Works Organisation (FWO) Director General Shahid Niaz.
The meeting considered matters concerning the pace of Expressway construction, availability of right of way and problems therein, provision of facilities for resettlement of shiftees and opening of completed portion of Northern Bypass.
The NHA Chairman informed the meeting after availability of right of way for construction of bridge sites, the basic structure of bridges was being expeditiously completed.
He said work was also progressing fast in respect of earth laying for the road in the light of technical experts report about quality and the characteristic of the land made available under right of way.
FWO chief Shahid Niaz gave detailed briefing regarding technical aspects of the project with the help of charts and said on the directive of President of Pakistan the principle of shifting least possible people and construction of better quality road was being adopted.
He said efforts were being made to complete the work phase-wise in the light of President's directive.
Chief Secretary Aslam Sanjrani said all the departments had been asked to bring any problem which might come in the way before the fortnightly Chief Secretary's meeting so the same could be sorted out with the cooperation of concerned department. He said the fortnightly meeting was held to ensure timely completion of the road.
Federal Minister Shamim Siddiqi directed all the departments to strive to complete the project in minimum possible period through mutual cooperation. He asked the Provincial and City Governments to ensure improvement in the pace of availability of right of way. On the other hand, he said the NHA and FWO should start construction work on the right of way made available to them, and necessary homework in that regard be completed before hand. He told the meeting he would review the pace of work after every two weeks by driving through the right of way attained.
The meeting was also attended by Project Director LEW Mohammed Yusuf Barakzai, Brig Anwar of FWO, Project Director LERP Shafiqur Rehman Paracha, EDO Revenue Mohammed Waseem and others.