KARACHI: Ghotki-Ghouspur Bridge will be designed keeping in view the floods, river streams, weather conditions and climate changes of the region and special care will be taken for giving way to the river water by minimising pressure on the banks.
These views were expressed by Sindh Minister for Planning and Development Mir Hazar Khan Bijarani on Wednesday while presiding over a conference on Ghotki-Ghouspur Bridge at his office, according to a statement. Public-Private Partnership Unit (PPP-U) Director Fahad Ansari told the meeting that tender process will be completed by December.
The private developer will take the model to Nandipur laboratory for hydraulic model study which will determine the actual alignment, and width and length of the bridge by giving final shape to the model. He further added that in the light of PPP-U concept, the private developer is responsible for all operational risks involved in the project and as per agreement a third party independent engineering firm will also monitor the technical specifications of the projects.
After the identifications of faults in the design of Khairpur, Larkana and Dadu bridges by renowned water expert Idrees Rajput and Irrigation Special Secretary Ahmed Junaid Memon, it was decided to constitute a steering committee. The committee comprises the planning and development chairman and members from PPP-U irrigation finance and an independent engineering firm to oversee and monitor hydraulic model study design to ensure a faultless model.
Moreover, Bijarani directed the PPP-U authorities that the length of the project should not be less than 1.7kilometers and earnest efforts are made to complete land acquisition process so that groundbreaking of the project may take place by March 2018.