CM orders construction of Malir Expressway from July 2019

Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has directed the Sindh Planning & Development Department to begin work on the Malir Expressway project from July next year in order to complete it within two-and-a-half years. He issued these directives on Monday while presiding over a meeting at the CM House to review the progress of the Malir Expressway.

Minister for Local Government Saeed Ghani, P&D Chairman Mohammad Waseem, Principal Secretary to CM Sajid Jamal Abro, Local Government Secretary Khalid Hyder Shah, PPP Unit Head Khalid Shaikh and other officers attended the meeting.

The Malir Expressway is the most important project to connect the motorway to the city centre, the CM said. He added that it would provide speedy access to key real estate schemes along the route, reducing commute time from KPT Flyover to the motorway to only 25 minutes. “Therefore, it must be started by completing all its formalities latest by July 2019.”

The project includes the development of a 40.4 kilometre three-into-three lane expressway with controlled access along the Malir River starting from Qayyumabad Bridge near DHA and ending at the Karachi-Hyderabad Motorway (M-9) near Kathore via existing Link Road.

The project is expected to cost Rs40 billion, 30 per cent of which will be borne by the provincial government, 30 per cent arranged through public-private partnership and 40 per cent through loans from banks.

The chief minister was told that in order to ascertain the viability of the project, breakeven traffic was worked out, which was 21,600 vehicles daily, and a likely revenue yield of Rs2.4 billion in one year was worked out. The demand risk of the project is equally shared between the developer and the Sindh government through Minimum Revenue Guarantee (MRG) structure.

The upside [if the traffic exceeds the breakeven traffic] and the downside [if the traffic falls below the breakeven traffic] would be equally shared between the developer and the Sindh government.

The project was placed before the Public Private Partnership Policy Board on Jan 31, which approved its launch under a two-stage bidding procedure. Stage one, a Request for Proposal (RFP), was issued on February 13. In response to the RFP, the technical proposals were received from seven national and international bidders.

The project was again presented in the Public Private Partnership Policy Board on Oct 10. The board was apprised about the revised capital and commercial structure in line with the response of the stage one bidders. The board then approved the launch of stage two RFP.

The stage two RFP and bidding documents have been completed and RFP would be launched by December 17. However, the consultants have proposed some changes to the capital and structure which would require approval of the PPP Policy board meeting, the meeting was told. The chief minister then directed his principal secretary to convene the policy board within the next few days to take a decision.