Muslim Town Flyover won’t be easy

Controversies have engulfed the Muslim Town Flyover on Ferozepur Road just 48 hours before the official launch of the project, with construction scheduled to begin on Sunday, October 2. Costing some Rs 3.5 billion, the flyover, which would arch over the Canal and Muslim Town Mor to reach WAPDA Hospital, would be the longest one in the history of Lahore and would be in the shape of a giant S. It would also be the second split flyover built in the city, Kalma Chowk Flyover being the first.
However, construction problems have erupted around the large-scale project after the government announced plans to demolish around 100 shops along the path of the massive overpass. Another hiccup in the ambitious plan is the shortage of funds, along with objections to the shape of the flyover. A similarly shaped flyover built by the NLC in Karachi had collapsed a few years ago, creating doubts about the structural integrity of an S-shaped bridge.
The Punjab Communication and Works (C&W) Department had informally carried out some initial work after Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif approved the project on August 27 and laid the foundation stone on September 20, but controversy reared its head when a number of shops were marked with red paint, a clear indication to traders that these shops had to be razed to make way for the construction of the flyover. Traders headed by Anjuman-e-Tajran Ferozepur Road President Mehboob Ali Sirki took stock of the situation and decided to resist the project.
In a defiant note, they decided to stage protest demonstration if their shops were bulldozed without their consent. Three meetings have since been held to settle the issue but all of them have remained inconclusive. Sirki told Pakistan Today that designs had to be changed to avoid inflicting any damage on traders who had been running their businesses here for a long time. “Though the C&W Department has offered to provide alternative locations along with financial compensation, but change of location will definitely ruin the businesses,” he said.
The tense situation could be prevented, he said, if the demolition was split between the two sides of the road instead of clearing up the entire 18 square feet of required land on only one side, so that the least possible damage was incurred by traders. He said the next round of meetings would be held on Monday and if their demands were not met they would unleash a spell of protests. C&W Project Director Sabir Khan said the government had planned to give 4 kanals of alternative lands to traders with additional parking lanes that would be helpful in boosting their business.
The government would also pay them compensation, he added. Khan claimed that only some shops in Madina Tower and others would be razed to clear the way for the flyover, and that almost 90 percent of traders were agreed on the issue. He said C&W had discussed the issue with Nespak as well to make some changes to the current design in order to reduce the damage to the traders’ shops. “We will try our best to acquire government land instead of private land for an alternative place of business for the [affected] traders,” he added.
A City District Government Lahore (CDGL) official said shortage of funds was also a big problem in the construction of the flyover. He said the chief minister had announced that the CDGL would make available the necessary funds for the project without consulting CDGL. “It was a shock for us as everybody knows the CDGL is cash-strapped and cannot bear the expenses of Rs 3.5 billion for the construction of a flyover,” he said.
He said that during a meeting, Lahore District Coordination Officer (DCO) Ahed Cheema had tried to convince the chief minister to use substitute resources to arrange funds instead of overburdening the CDGL, but Lahore Development Authority (LDA) Director General (DG) Abdul Jabbar Shaheen had told the chief minister that the authority would arrange funds for the flyover through auction of the plots and land available to the department at the proposed Expo Centre at Johar Town. However, at present there is no confirmation about the availability of funds, because of which construction might stop in the middle, said the official.
Experts believe that S-shaped flyovers should be avoided as they require a high level of expertise in engineering. The smallest flaw in the design might lead to a tragedy, they said. LDA Chief Engineer Israr Saeed said the flyover aimed to make Ferozepur Road a signal-free corridor. He said that the project was likely to be completed by March 20, 2012 by working round-the-clock and it would be formally inaugurated on March 23. He said the estimated cost of flyover’s construction was Rs 3.5 billion, while it would result in savings of Rs 2.8 billion annually in travel costs after its completion.
He said that a provision had also been made for the Bus Rapid Transport System and metro system on Ferozepur Road in the design of Muslim Town Flyover.