Malir Expressway route changed ‘to ensure minimum displacement of people’

In consideration of reservations of residents of Malir who feared displacement due to the Malir Expressway project, the Sindh government has announced that it has made changes in the route of the expressway.

The announcement to this effect was made by Sindh Information and Local Government Minister Syed Nasir Hussain Shah on Friday as he chaired a meeting on the Malir Expressway project.

The local government minister said the proposed route of the Malir Expressway had been revised keeping in view the demands of the concerned residents of District Malir. He maintained that the Sindh government had made changes in the project to ensure that least possible number of people had to be displaced as a result of the Malir Expressway’s construction. He promised that the displaced population would also be provided with alternative accommodation.

Shah said the changes in the proposed route of the Malir Expressway had been finalised after consulting the elected representatives of District Malir. He mentioned that District Malir had always been a stronghold of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), and added that PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah had also endorsed the changes made in the plan.

The local government minister directed the Malir deputy commissioner, Ghanwar Ali Leghari, to identify alternative land for accommodating the population that would be displaced due to the construction of the Malir Expressway.

He also asked the project director to start work on the first phase of the project from Jam Sadiq Bridge to Quaidabad. Briefing the participants of the meeting, the Malir deputy commissioner said that after incorporating changes in the route of the project, some 400 to 500 concrete and mud houses would be demolished and 40 acres of private land would also be included in the project.