CM wants to acquire Metropole Hotel land to build park for elderly people, children

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has decided to acquire the Metropole Hotel’s land for the construction of a park for elderly people.

He took this decision while presiding over a high-level meeting at the CM House on Wednesday. The meeting was attended by Minister for Local Government Nasir Hussain Shah, CM Adviser Murtaza Wahab, Chairperson P&D Nahid Shah, PSCM Sajid Jamal Abro, Special Secretary LG Niaz Soomro, experts of the P&D and other departments.

Shah said that he wanted to acquire the land of Metropole the Hotel, where he would construct a beautiful park designated only for children and elderly people. “The construction of the park would be best for the environment of the city, which was getting more and more polluted every passing day,” he said and added that from now onwards all the projects would be developed keeping in view the environmental conditions of the city, the capacity of roads and sewerage system and the provisions of all other facilities.

He said that the land of the Metropole Hotel was located in the centre of four most important bus routes where the traffic volume remained considerably high almost round the clock, he said. “The construction of any high-rise building on the land of the hotel would cause further congestion of the traffic in the area and would create serious environmental issues,” he said.

Shah said he wanted to acquire the land of the hotel where he would construct a beautiful park designated only for children and elderly people. He pointed out that the left turn of the road from Metropole towards Clifton also remained jammed because the traffic going towards the Club Road stopped at the signal. Therefore, he said, a portion of the land of Sindh Club at the road corner may also be acquired for widening the left turn of the road.

The CM directed the Karachi commissioner to talk to the owners of the Metropole Hotel and the Sindh Club management for acquiring their lands and report to him within 10 days. He directed Chairperson P&D Naheed Shah to prepare estimates and proposals for building two underpasses and submit them to him for further action.

Underpasses

The chief minister said there was a dire need for two underpasses, one on Abdullah Haroon Road at the Metropole Hotel signal to make the traffic coming from Clifton to Saddar signal-free and the other one may be constructed at Avari Hotel towards Fatima Jinnah Road to give signal free passage to the traffic of Saddar towards Cantonment Station.

He directed Chairperson P&D Naheed Shah to prepare estimates and proposals for both the underpasses and submit the same to him for further action.

He said that he was also considering construction of an underpass on Club Road towards Sultanabad to ensure signal-free traffic between both the five-star hotels.

Korangi Causeway

The chief minister said that the destruction of the Korangi Causeway by the recent hill torrential deluge had created serious problems for the people of Korangi.

It has completely disconnected Korangi from the Defence area; therefore alternate route being used by the people of Korangi was passing through industrial area where traffic jams were a routine matter.

He worked out the map of the area and decided to prepare a detailed plan after adopting engineering solutions. The CM was told that the Yellow Line project had also suggested construction of a flyover from Baloch Colony Bridge to Korangi.

This would also cover the causeway. At this, the CM directed the P&D department to consult with Yellow Line project people and meanwhile he would construct a bridge on the causeway. “I would prepare its sketch keeping in view all the traffic requirements of the area and hand over to the P&D for moving forward through their experts,” he said.