Some serious flaws in designing have been noticed at some of the locations of Mekran Coastal Highway (MCH) after it was washed away by rains and floods at various points. Flaws in its designing at some locations have surfaced as no study or data was available for annual rains and floods.
Federal Minister for Communication, Mohammed Shamim Siddiqui expressed these views in an exclusive interview to Business Recorder. According to him, it will take further two-and-a-half years to stabilise it for a steady traffic flow in conditions like storms and heavy rains.
He said the MCH would take at least two more years to stabilise to give reliable service to all vehicular traffic. The highway was inaugurated in December 2004. The recent cyclone has exposed the vulnerability and inadequacy of such poor execution in haste. Designing of MCH needs to be corrected, he said, adding that the project of such magnitude required accurate studies to build as it was not constructed for a limited period or limited traffic.
The MCH needed changes in its route due to design flaw, he said, adding that it would be stabilised by 2009. The recent cyclone '03B, 'Yemyin' that hit the Balochistan coastline and brought heavy rains was more devastating than the torrential rains of 2005 in the same area.
After 2005 rains, the initial cost for streamlining the highway and plugging of breaches and adding new culverts at various locations was Rs 150 million, but more funds is needed for redesigning the MCH. He said adding that the communication ministry had allocated an additional amount of Rs 850 million to construct more culverts and redesigning.
Various teams of National Highway Authority (NHA) deputed at affected portion of MCH are monitoring the situation to plug breaches and repair damaged culverts enroute. "We are assessing and evaluating the damages by the recent storm and it is estimated that Rs 250 to Rs 300 million would be required to rehabilitate the highway," he pointed out.
Shamim was of the view that the construction of MCH seemed to have been done in haste no one could evaluate at that time what was going to happen after storm or severe spell of rains. He said, "Some of the data was evaluated with help of local residents, which does not serve the purpose to construct such a big project."
The importance of MCH is increasing day by day due to Gwadar Port and after completing link with the Iranian border, he said, adding that this route would be useful for trading goods by road with Iran in near future.
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