Karachi: Seventy-year-old Ghulam Jillani who had worked on the construction of Clifton flyover and underpasses inaugurated the Rs1.5 billion project on Friday afternoon that coincided with International Labour Day.
The project, sponsored by a private developer, Bahria Town, was inaugurated in the presence of Bahria Town founder Malik Riaz and Karachi Metropolitan Corporation administrator Saquib Soomro.
Comprising two underpasses and a flyover, the project is expected to facilitate traffic between A.T. Chowrangi and Bilawal Chowrangi and provide an easy road access to those who would reside in the high-rise building being built by the real estate firm.
Speaking on the occasion, Bahria Town chief Malik Riaz also paid tribute to former Karachi nazim Mustafa Kamal for his support during the planning and designing stages of the project when he was in office.
The KMC administrator urged other businessmen to extend material assistance to the civic agency by sponsoring such projects so that more facilities could be made available to the residents of Karachi.
The government departments concerned did not check the violation of various laws by the private developer when it had started the project at a breakneck speed. The project had been started without an approval of the mandatory environmental impact assessment and no-objection certificate from the Sindh Environmental Protection Agency. The violation was highlighted in the media and work on the project remained suspended for a few months on a court order till Sepa issued the NOC.
During the construction, a portion of the historic Jehangir Kothari Parade, which is protected under the Sindh Cultural Heritage Protection Act, was uprooted. While the law prescribes long prison terms and heavy fines for the violators, the Sindh culture department, which was responsible to ensure protection of the structure, looked the other way till the completion of the project.
