Settlement of Land Issue for KCR Victims Delayed

The revival of Karachi Circular Railway is believed to have hit snags again as officials of the Malir Development Authority and of the Pakistan Railways have seemed to be “reluctant” in appearing before the Sindh High Court for an “amicable settlement” of a suit to hand over 300 acres of land to the KCR for the rehabilitation of the affected people, according to the official sources and documents obtained by The News on Sunday.

The availability of the land for the resettlement of the affected people is a condition set by the donor, the Japan International Cooperation Agency, for its financial assistance for the project. The sources said that the PR and the MDA had agreed to withdraw the suit and to settle the land dispute out of the court.

A court order to this effect had been expected to be issued on August 17, 2010, but the officials of the PR and the MDA, who had signed the withdrawal application, were not present in the court and so the matter was adjourned.

Subsequently, an application was moved by the Karachi Urban Transport Corporation, which is running the KCR project, and the case was again fixed for orders on August 24.

However, the officials concerned again failed to turn up at the hearing despite the fact that they had confirmed to the Managing Director of KUTC, Ijaz Hussain Khilji, to be present in the SHC on August 24.

The judge of the SHC dismissed the urgent application due to the non-appearance of the officials. The case will now be taken up by the court only when both the officials consented to their appearance before the SHC, an official familiar with this development told The News on Sunday.

Meanwhile, the KUTC MD had urged the Sindh government to ensure the appearance of the officials in the court.

A team of the Japan International Cooperation Agency visited the city on September 1 and held discussions with the stake-holders of the project.

The donor agency urged the officials concerned to expedite the work and avoid further delays, a participant of the meeting told The News. The KUTC had also held a meeting with the managing director of the Karachi Electric Supply Company on August 31 on the electricity needs of the project. The resettlement plan would be carried out on the pattern of the Lyari Expressway resettlement, which meant that Rs50,000 and a plot of 80 square yards would be given to each affected person, according to the decisions taken at the 5th meeting of the board of directors of the KUTC.

The cost of the project has gone up from over 872 million dollars to over 1.5 billion dollars. The route length of the KCR was stated to be over 43 kilometres.