KARACHI, July 20: The second level of the Nagan Chowrangi flyover was opened for vehicular traffic late on Saturday night.

City Nazim Syed Mustafa Kamal performed the opening ceremony.

Seemingly undeterred by the withholding of the promised funds by the federal and provincial governments, the city nazim announced that the city government would curtail its non-development expenditures to finance and complete the ongoing development projects in the city.

Talking to newsmen after the inauguration, he said that the Nagan Chowrangi and Gulshan-i-Iqbal flyovers were actually federally-funded projects but owing to the withholding of funds, the city government spent Rs170 million from its own resources to complete the project.

He said that so far the city government spent Rs400 million on various development projects under bridge financing.

Defending his decision to continue the work on various projects without getting the promised funds, the nazim said that since the cost of raw material was increasing with each passing day, there was a possibility that if the city government kept waiting for the promised grants, the overall costs of the projects would increase manifold.

“Therefore, despite limited resources, we do not want to further delay the ongoing projects,” the nazim said.

Mr Kamal maintained that the city government was facing a shortfall of around Rs3 billion but was trying to meet the same by curtailing various non-development expenditures including fuel, medical etc.

However, he urged the federal and provincial authorities to release the withheld funds to the city government so that it could complete the ongoing development projects in the city.

The nazim said that the signal-free corridor II comprising five flyovers – three on Rashid Minhas Road, one at Sohrab Goth and the Nagan Chowrangi flyover – would be formally inaugurated on Independence Day.

He said that that the Nagan Chowrangi flyover was an important part of the signal-free corridor II, which linked Sharea Faisal to Surjani Town and was being completed at an estimated cost of Rs650 million.

Level one of the Nagan Chowrangi flyover was recently opened for vehicular traffic.

Currently, the city government is constructing one more loop of the flyover, which will cover Anda Mor and is scheduled to be completed by August 14.

Mr Kamal congratulated the people of Karachi on the opening of the Nagan Chowrangi flyover and observed that due to effective arrangements, traffic was not disturbed during the construction work of the flyover.

He said that the city government would work on the beautification of the entire area after the completion of work on adjacent roads and a storm-water drain.