By Aamir Majeed
The dilapidated condition of a 25 km long portion of the National Highway that connects Karachi to the rest of Pakistan is a cause of serious concern for commuters and businesses. The long-standing negligence of the National Highway Authority (NHA) with regard to this road poses serious questions about the integrity of the authorities.
The road is consistently used by heavy and light vehicles carrying labourers and goods to Port Qasim, industries in the Export Processing Zone Authority (EPZA), Pakistan Steel Mills, Landhi Industrial Area and many other important business hubs. The strategic importance of the road essentially used for cargo transport from Karachi to the rest of the country cannot be emphasised more – and it needs immediate reconstruction.
The daily movement of commuters, industrialists and labourers demands smooth flow of traffic to the connecting areas and industrial zones on the National Highway.
Hardships are not only faced by the industries located in the industrial areas of Landhi and Korangi but also important institutions and government departments like the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), Karachi Airport, Malir City Court, Pakistan Telecommunication Company (PTCL) substations, and the Bin Qasim Power Station of K-Electric.
Workers, residents, and commercial cargo transporters are all severely affected because of the disintegrating National Highway.
The road also plays a pivotal role in public commuting and goods transportation to adjacent residential areas like Korangi, Landhi, Model Colony, Shah Faisal Colony, Quaidabad and Gulshan-e-Hadeed. Because of the deplorable condition of the road junction, the residents of these areas are seriously affected as they face constant transportation issues, including severe traffic jams and frequent road accidents.
The rapid increase in street crimes like car snatching, mobile phone grabbing and robberies of cash and valuables from commuters stuck in traffic is another consequence of the severe traffic blockades. The situation is further exacerbated by the absence of an alternative route for commuters and businesses of the affected areas across this vast expanse of a 25 km long section of the National Highway. Adding to this, the minimal repair work that is underway is only hampering the traffic flow.
The almost nonexistent repair work and the negligence of the National Highway Authority (NHA) have caused the Landhi Association of Trade and Industry (LATI) representatives, along with the general public, to raise concerns many times on this grave situation but all their efforts seem to have been made in vain.
Talking to Pakistan Today, LATI General Secretary Mobeen said that the condition of the National Highway negatively affected industrial production. He claimed that robberies and cell-phone snatching happens daily on this portion of the highway.
Mobeen maintained that the association had raised this issue with the authorities, but it hadn’t received a positive response as yet. “Bursts in sewage lines on the route in recent rains worsened the condition further,” he added.
Bin Qasim Association of Trade and Industry (BQATI) General Secretary Abdul Rehman told this scribe that the association invited former Karachi Commissioner Asif Hyder Shah and Karachi Administrator Laeeq Ahmed and that they visited the 25km stretch.
Rehman claimed that the Administrator Karachi Laeeq Ahmed has informed them that the Sindh government has allocated funds for the repair of the seven-kilometre portion of the highway from Star Gate to Quaidabad while Japan International Cooperation Agency had promised to rebuild the other 18 km.