Mayor Karachi Gives Opening Date of New Underpass

Karachi Mayor Murtaza Wahab has announced that the Karimabad Underpass will be finished within the next two and a half months.

Speaking on a news channel, Wahab said the NOC for the Green Line project was issued back in 2017, but the federal agency is only resuming work in 2025. “After eight years, they are still claiming they are right and the mayor is wrong,” he remarked.

He criticized the condition of MA Jinnah Road, saying that because of the Green Line project, the road’s streetlights and sewage system have been ruined. “They still haven’t built the Green Line Tower and are instead focusing on the cloth market,” Wahab added.

The mayor said his office received a letter on July 7, 2025, about restarting the Green Line. He replied on July 9, asking the federal authorities to first complete the old, unfinished work and clearly state the timeline for starting and finishing the project. “To this day, we haven’t received a response. Does a federal agency have the right to bypass the local government?” he questioned.

Wahab further said that when roads are in poor shape, citizens blame the mayor instead of the prime minister. “The federal government should be ashamed that the NOC has been stuck for nine years. They say there’s no SOP to provide funds to the mayor, but during Mustafa Kamal’s tenure, the federal government used to support the local government,” he said.

On the Red Line project, Wahab noted that the original contract rate has gone up, and the city is working to resolve technical issues. “If we don’t make a decision soon, costs will rise even further,” he warned.

The mayor confirmed that work on the Karimabad Underpass is moving quickly and will be done in about two months. He added that the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) is also repairing 106 roads, which will be completed within the same timeframe. He assured that contractors failing to meet standards will be blacklisted.