Over 96 percent work on the south-bound portion of Lyari Expressway project in Karachi has been completed and is it is hoped that this portion would be opened for traffic in a couple of months. Sources in National Highway Authority (NHA) told APP that overall 62 percent work of the project has been completed.
The Expressway project was launched with the aim to provide faster, congestion-free, shorter and environment-friendly inter-city connection between Mauripur Road and Super Highway.
About delay in completion of the project, sources said that "so far on the north-bound portion of the project, 'right of way' (ROW) has not been handed over to the NHA, which has been the main cause of the delay". Lyari Expressway would be a 32 km road that will consist of two lanes on both sides of the Lyari River, with two interchanges, five overpasses and five underpasses. It starts from North Lyari near Sohrab Goth bridge and ends at South Lyari, near Mauripur Road bridge.
The cost of developing this expressway has been revised twice since it was first proposed. Originally estimated at Rs 5.1 billion in March 2006, it is expected to cost Rs 8.227 billion, when completed. When work started on the Expressway, in 2002, the NHA had expected to complete it by November 2004.