KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Wednesday gave two-month time to the administration for the resettlement of people who surrendered their residential properties for the construction of the much-delayed Lyari Expressway project.
The project, which was estimated to be completed in 2003 for Rs3 billion, was inaugurated in January 2018 at the whopping cost of around Rs23bn, according to information provided to the high court.
This includes four interchanges and 20 bridges, and is expected to alleviate the rush caused by a large volume of traffic in the megacity.
An SHC bench was hearing a plea seeking contempt proceedings against the Lyari Expressway Resettlement Project (LERP) director over failure to provide alternate plots to the affectees.
At the outset of the hearing, the court asked about the progress made in the case. We are planning, the matter will be resolved soon, the official said.
“Years have passed but the matter remains unresolved, how much more time is needed for resettlement of the affectees,” the court questioned. At this, the official responded that they need eight weeks to do the same.
Later, the court adjourned the hearing, after giving two months to the Sindh government.
The construction of the Lyari Expressway required the demolition of 15,000 housing units and the displacement of 24,400 families living along the Lyari river.
This is considered to be the largest urban demolition project for the purpose of road-making in the world. To resettle the displaced people, the government launched LERP. As part of this project, the people were given a compensation package that included an 80 square yard plot of land on the outskirts of Karachi and Rs 50,000 for construction.
The lands were allotted in newly developed suburbs in Hawke’s Bay, Taiser Town and Baldia Town.
