City District Government Karachi (CDGK) has initiated construction and onward installation of pedestrian bridges across the city. However, of 320 planned pedestrian bridges, just a faction of 79 pedestrian bridges in the main city areas has been completed till date.
The overall funds, required for completing the fabrication and installation of 320 pedestrian bridges, come to a total of Rs 6.40 billion. Lack of proper pace in meeting the installation of the required pedestrian bridges has been attributed to two main reasons; retrenchment of development funds by Sindh government and present situation of CDGK interim administrative set-up.
Still, CDGK Transport and Communication Department (T&CD) have got approval from Sindh government for further 10 pedestrian bridges for the city. For this purpose, Sindh government has approved funds worth Rs 200 million as the estimated cost of a pedestrian bridge comes to around Rs 20 million. Further, the CDGK T&CD has sought approval from the federal government for 20 pedestrian bridges and it is expected that the federal government would approve release of funds required worth Rs 400 million to allow the local government to kick off fabrication and installation of the bridges.
The provincial government had funded all the 79 pedestrian bridges that the CDGK has installed at different venues in the city because the latter is fully dependent on funds for the development and non-development expenditures provided by the provincial government. Henceforth, the provincial government has released Rs 1.78 billion in this particular segment of developments. For the additional 20 pedestrian bridges, hefty amount worth Rs 4.62 billion would be required to meet the completion of 320 pedestrian bridges in city.
It is observed that installation of pedestrian bridges has partially catered to the needs of the pedestrians due to various factors. Citizens prefer crossing roads while ignoring the pedestrian bridges due to the distance of installed bridges as the majority of these pedestrian bridges have been installed at bus stops, the height and length of the pedestrian bridges. This normally hampers movement of senile pedestrians especially women and sick and disabled citizens. Moreover, establishment of beggars' dens in the pedestrian bridges and occupation of free space by the addicts is also a key reason.