Of the many famous streets in Karachi, one which was not expected to flood this year after the monsoon rains was Tariq road. The road had only a couple of months ago been inaugurated by the PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari after it was repaired as part of the Rs 10 billion ‘Karachi project’ approved by the Sindh government aimed at recreating and modernising Karachi’s crumbling infrastructure.
Work on Tariq road specifically finished in mid-April and the government reported that a total of Rs 562.820 million had been spent on the 2 KM stretch of road. Claims of newly installed storm drains became redundant as the street filled up with water just like the rest of the city did with the coming of the monsoon rains.
Around a billion was spent on Tariq road’s construction. According to CM Sindh 1of the special feature of this road is it’s storm drain ? pic.twitter.com/svPL0xZpMb
— Khurrum Sher Zaman (@KhurrumZamanPTI) June 29, 2017
PTI MPA from Karachi constituency PS-112 tweeted similar concerns saying that despite claims of the installation of speical ‘storm drains’ Tariq road had been flooded as it had been in the past. The spending of more than half a billion rupees was practically useless to the people.
The road had, admittedly, been in putrid shape with ditches and ill placed electricity and telephone polls resulting in congested traffic before the renovations. And while the road was inarguably evened out and and utility poles relocated to ease the crammed traffic situation, it seems that the promises made were not fulfilled.
It is pertinent to note that the claims made by the PPP leadership regarding the infrastructure work on Tariq road had been huge. The PPP seems to be operating on a very-very short term basis favouring only chances for good publicity pictures and immediate praise. The rain however revealed what is either a blatant lie or poor quality of work – both of which, while not equally, are quite incriminating. Despite this the Sindh government did feel that it was worth boasting given by the advertisements they ran bragging about their ‘achievement.’
And while the situation and necessities of Tariq road differ from those of a highway, it is a glaring negligence on the part of the government that nothing has come to fruition despite such an opulent sum of money being spent.
The road did eventually drain out in the morning and was clear by around 10 30, more than 12 hours after the initial flooding. Many social media users decried claims of negligence saying that previously it would take even longer for the water to finally drain.
It took some time, but it happened. Water has drained completely from Tariq Road via @KhiTraffic pic.twitter.com/giX6aCREZM
— Sanad Liaquat (@sanadliaquat) June 30, 2017
The pic he shared is of tariq road , n the one I am sharing is same of the road , today at 10:30 am pic.twitter.com/bYbN4FdRW3
— LâleRookh (@LaleRookh) June 30, 2017
Nevertheless what must be realised is that the storm drains the government claimed to install operate by diverting rainwater into nearby waterways. During rainstorms, water runs off of buildings, roads, and other hard surfaces, picking up trash and pollutants along the way. The road should thus have never been flooded in the first place let alone the draining process be completed overnight.
