* Project kicked off by TKP in 2004 still remains incomplete
By Jamil Khan | KARACHI
MANGHOPIR Road, a project initiated under the former president’s Tameer-e-Karachi Programme (TKP), has been lying incomplete for the past four years. The road is an inconvenience to thousands of people living in the surrounding vicinity and causes huge traffic jams.
The project was initiated under TMP in 2004 with the aim of rehabilitating one of the city’s oldest thoroughfares that stretches over 10 kilometers from Banaras Chowk to the institute Madinat-ul-Hikmat. Former President Pervez Musharraf launched the 
TKP, which included the construction of two dozen mega structures including roads, flyovers, underpasses and other projects worth Rs 29 billion. Almost all of the projects initiated under the TKP have been completed with the exception of the Manghopir Road, which has fallen victim to the negligence of the City District Government Karachi (CDGK) Works and Services Department.
The road is a barren site and the absence of street lights has made things worse for people traveling during the night. Before incorporating this project in the TKP in 2004, the Sindh Ombudsman had directed the provincial government, some seven years ago, to complete the project, after numerous complaints by area residents. The provincial government, however, did not complete the project and through a notification (No SOVI/1-133/98) issued on May 12, 1999, the Manghopir Road, along with four other roads, was transferred to the defunct Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) for maintenance and repairs.
Among the others were the Korangi Road, Chowrangi to Drigh Road (8-km), National Highway from Star Gate to Steel Mills Junction (24-km) and Ibrahim Hyderi Road in Korangi (8-km).
The Sindh Shehri Federation General Secretary Muhammad Tahir Swati, who had been bringing up the issue of the road at various forums, told Daily Times that the city government has repaired many roads but they have taken no notice of the Manghopir Road.
“The Manghopir Road is one of the oldest roads in the city, it has also been mentioned in the map of Karachi prepared by the British in 1874, but it is yet to be repaired,” he said. Swati said that during the past 60 years, various new localities have been established on both sides of the Manghopir Road, including Orangi Town, Qasba Town, Baloch Goth, Mianwali Colony, North Karachi, Surjani Town, Bund Murad Khan, Hub Dam, Sakran, Dhreji, Lohi, Norani Dargah and others.
He also said that Sindh Ombudsman Secretariat Director General-I Mir Safdar Hussain Talpur summoned a hearing on this issue on Tuesday in which representatives of the Sindh Local Government, Finance Department and CDGK Works and Services Department participated. In the hearing, it was revealed that the Sindh government had already approved a sum of Rs 248 million for this project but so far the project was incomplete. The hearing has been put off till December 29, said Swati.
– Published in Daily Times | Dec 25, 2008
Jamil Khan -- The Journalist 