PM to open Lyari Expressway today

Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi is scheduled to inaugurate the northbound section of the Lyari Expressway on Sunday (today). The event would mark the culmination of the project of dedicated speedy vehicular carriageway, whose completion had been delayed for more than 15 years.

The southbound portion of the expressway was opened for vehicular traffic around a decade ago. The project’s completion coincided with the Sindh government’s announcement of developing a similar carriageway – the 38-kilometre Malir Expressway that would run along the Malir River – under a public-private partnership.

The scheduled inauguration of the northbound section of the Lyari Expressway also came under discussion on Saturday as Sindh Governor Mohammad Zubair met Federal Communications Minister Hafiz Abdul Karim at the Governor House.

Zubair said the present federal government had provided funding to construct the Green Line section of the Karachi Metrobus rapid transit network, the M-9 section of the country’s motorway and the leftover portion of the Lyari Expressway so that the people of Karachi could get the best of the transportation facilities along the most modern lines.

The governor said the federal government had laid special emphasis on developing and improving civic facilities and amenities across the city while considering it the hub of economic and financial activities of the entire country.

He stated that the special development package of the prime minister had been announced with the objective of upgrading and improving civic infrastructure facilities in major towns of the province.

In this regard, major allocation of development funds has been made to construct and restore civic infrastructure in towns of Thatta, Jacobabad, Tando Mohammad Khan, Naushehro Feroze, Sujawal, and Hyderabad, he added.

Zubair said the premier’s special development package would also be used to develop the infrastructure of industrial zones of the city, adding that Karachi and Gwadar ports had become all the more important on the world business and trade map with the completion of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.

He said foreign investors and multinational companies had decided to expand their businesses in Karachi while considering the commercial value of the city in the entire region.

The governor said that all the relevant stakeholders were being duly consulted in the present government’s drive to develop the province, adding that a collective and shared strategy was being conceived and implemented to develop the province so that their benefits could be provided to the public.

Communications Minister Karim said the federal government would construct more motorway sections across Sindh so that the province could be connected with the rest of the country with the best of the communication infrastructure.

It has been learnt that during his visit to Karachi, PM Abbasi is likely to chair a top-level meeting in which he would be briefed on the current state of mega development projects being built in the city with the Centre’s financial support as well as on the city’s law and order situation.