SHC orders faster Red Line construction by resolving disputes
KARACHI: The Sindh High Court has said that all stakeholders should be taken on board and efforts be made to resolve disputes to ensure that the work on the much-delayed Red Line Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project must be carried out continuously.
It was also proposed during the proceedings that the provincial government should constitute a committee, to be headed by Senior Sindh Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon, to address issues and expedite the work on the project.
A two-judge bench of SHC comprising Justice Muhammad Iqbal Kalhoro and Justice Mohammad Abdur Rahman said that after its constitution, the proposed committee must take all stakeholders on board in order to resolve issues and expedite the work.
Citing the secretary of transport department, Sindh Mass Transit Authority, Asian Development Bank, TransKarachi, the implementation agency for project, and others as respondents, a petition was filed last month against inordinate delay in completion of the BRT project.
Bench proposes committee to address issues stalling work.
At the last hearing, the bench had put the respondents on notice and also sought a timeframe for completion of the project.
At the outset of the hearing, the bench heard the parties on preliminary objections raised by the respondents over the maintainability of the petition.
However, it has been proposed during the hearing that the provincial government will from a committee for mediation among the parties and to resolve the disputes so that the work must be expedited.
The bench in its order said, “We are, therefore, adjourning this matter, to be taken up after three weeks and are hopeful that meanwhile such committee would be constituted and meeting would have taken place under the chairmanship of Mr Sharjeel Inam Memon, the senior minister, in which all the stakeholders would be called, including the respondents, and efforts would be made to resolve the disputes so that the work shall continuously be carried out”, it added.
It also directed a provincial law officer to file a report about the meeting of the proposed committee on Oct 2.
Petitioner Asif Iqbal through his lawyer Omer Memon approached the SHC and submitted that being a resident of the area, the petitioner has been aggrieved for last eight years as he has had to endure the negligence of respondents.
He also asserted that the project, designed to cover around 27 kilometres from Malir Halt to Numaish via University Road, was announced in 2017 with an initial cost of around Rs79 billion, but due to persistent delays and mismanagement the estimated cost has now escalated to Rs103 billion.
After commencement of the work in early 2022, the project was initially scheduled for completion by 2023, which was later pushed to 2024 and has subsequently been extended to the end of 2026, he maintained.
The petitioner further contended that even the revised timeline appeared to be wholly unrealistic as the project continued to progress at a snail’s pace and various factors had been cited by officials to justify these delays, including disputes with contractors, safety stoppages, rising construction costs due to depreciation of the rupee, difficulties in land acquisition, relocation of utilities and coordination failures between implementing agencies.