The Sindh High Court (SHC) has directed the government to provide a deadline for the completion of the Red Line corridor project on University Road.
The direction came on a petition of the Red Line project contractor against the termination of their contract and the sealing of their offices by the provincial government. Sindh Advocate General Jawwad Dero said that the issue with the contractor has been pending with the arbitrator, and the contract would be awarded to another party after the completion of the notice period.
Dero said the site where the petitioner has kept their machinery is the property of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation, and for the time being, the contract has been awarded for drainage and roads’ restoration. The petitioner’s counsel Salahuddin Ahmed said the government has terminated the contract without issuing any notice, and the Frontier Works Organisation has been given the contract. He said the government has not cited any reason for the sealing of the petitioner’s office site.
An SHC division bench headed by Justice Mohammad Saleem Jessar proposed whether the court can form a commission to ascertain the delay in the completion of the project. The court said the delay is causing immense difficulties to the residents.
Dero said that according to TransKarachi, the company that is executing the project, the Red Line corridor project would be completed in 2028. Ahmed requested the court to direct the respondent to explain the reason for sealing the petitioner’s site, and in the meantime, the site may be kept in the court officials’ custody.
The court directed the Sindh government to provide a deadline for the completion of the Red Line, and directed the respondents to file comments on the petition on the next date of hearing.
The petitioner had approached the court against the termination of their contract by the Sindh government-owned TransKarachi, citing reasons of unsatisfactory performance. The Islamabad-based joint venture CR3-AM Associates had been awarded a Rs15 billion contract for Red Line Lot-2 from Mosamiat to Numaish in January 2022.
Ahmed said the construction was delayed due to certain acts of TransKarachi, including design changes, variations and failure to make part of the site available. He said the petitioners had also succeeded in the arbitration process, which was binding on the parties.
He said the Sindh government authorities terminated the contract and sealed the premises of the petitioners situated at the Aladin Park, and are attempting to remove the entire stock, including but not limited to machinery and equipment, motor vehicles, trucks, steel and construction material.
The SHC had also appointed a court official to prepare the inventory of the machinery and equipment of the petitioner at the site.
