'Northern Bypass to be completed by March 2006'

Federal Communication Minister, Shamim Ahmed Siddiqi has said that Lyari Expressway would be completed by December 2006 while Northern Bypass by March 2006. He said Northern Bypass was to be completed in December 2005 and inquiry had been ordered to ascertain the causes of delay.
The Minister along with City Nazim Mustafa Kamal was talking to journalists at City Government's Secretariat here on Saturday.
The Minister said 32Km long parallel roads were being constructed which would have 14 inter-changes and 16 flyovers besides entry and exit routes at different points. He described encroachments as major impediment in the way of this project.
He pointed out that this project was to be completed in 2004, but the encroachments could not be removed by the then city government as a result of which the ministry had to extend the completion period by 2 years and incurred a loss of Rs2.70 billion, increasing the cost of the project to Rs 7.70 billion.
This project, he said, was being supervised by Federal Government and was launched to keep heavy traffic flow outside the city without any hindrance.
He said that still 35percent encroachments remained to be removed and if these were removed, the project could be completed in time.
On the occasion, city nazim assured that City Government would take steps for removing encroachments from Lyari river.
He said the Communication Ministry would construct the road from Steel Mill to Thatta and from Thatta to Kotri in the second phase. The contract for first phase had been awarded, he added.
He told that work on conversion of Super Highway from Karachi to Hyderabad into motorway was being awarded on BoT basis and work would start in March 2006.
City Nazim Mustafa Kamal informed the journalists that both the projects would serve as milestone in the development of Karachi and City Government would extend all possible co-operation towards their completion.
He assured that no injustice would be done while removing encroachments for the construction of Lyari Expressway.