The reconstruction and upgradation work of I.I Chundrigar Road would be completed by end of this month and would be opened for vehicular traffic, with the ban on entry of public transport into the artery remaining intact, which was imposed by CDGK couple of months ago.
The project could not be completed within the stipulated time period set for its completion. The cost of the project is also likely to exceed from its allocated budget, which amounts to Rs 220 million, sources in I.I. Chundrigar Road Beautification Committee" of State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) told Business Recorder on Monday.
It may be recalled that the project of "upgradation and beautification" of the I.I Chundrigar Road was undertaken by the City District Government Karachi (CDGK) in collaboration with the SBP and other banks located on the road. The project, which was started on March 24, 2007, was to be completed within its stipulated deadline, by September 24, 2007.
The causes of delay in completion of the project are said to be traditionally delay-prone attitude of contractors coupled with an unscheduled installation of public utilities' line like water, electricity, telephone etc by the concerned utility organisations. Reconstruction of the city station nullah in front of Habib Bank plaza and clearance of sewerage lines, which have choked due to the recent cave-in of a 72-inch sewerage pipeline in front of Chief Minister House, at I.I Chundrigar Road are the other factors, they added.
Sources said reconstruction and upgradation work of the link roads including Mohammad Bin Qasim, Outram, Altaf Hussain Hali, Habib Bank Limited Chawk, City Station Bridge, Talpur, Mumtaz Hasan, would, however, take another two months to be completed.
On the budgetary side, sources said due to an expanded scope of work on link roads and nullahs of the I.I Chundrigar Road the contributors (CDGK and banks) were likely to face overspending.
So far the CDGK, SBP and other banks have not taken any decision on sharing of the cost of project, they revealed. But now as the project was near completion a conclusive meeting would soon be held between the stakeholders on issues ranging from cost sharing to the fate of traffic on the road, they added.
Sources said that once the work is completed on the service roads the Beautification Committee would decide that how much more funds were needed for the beautification stage. Earlier, the Committee had showed its concern over delay in commencement of the beautification work, timely completion of the project and lack of proper arrangement for car parking on the road. Sources said following reconstruction of service roads the beautification work would be done which would be a continued process and include establishing of fountains and food outlets, placing benches and cleaning of the buildings.
Sources said that the earlier ban on entry of public transport buses in the road would remain intact and special shuttles service is likely to be run by SBP with an estimated cost of Rs 1.2 million for the commuters on the road. However, they said, any final decision about the shuttle service is yet to be taken.