Karachi to open Shahrah-e-Bhutto corridor May 22

Karachi’s Shahrah-e-Bhutto corridor is being presented by Sindh officials as ready for opening this week, but the date circulating in recent social posts does not match the date cited in local reports. Multiple Pakistan news outlets, citing Pakistan Peoples Party Sindh general secretary Senator Waqar Mehdi and Sindh Senior Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon, reported that the 39-kilometre road will open on May 23, not May 22. The project is also being described in slightly different ways depending on the source. Reports this week called it Shahrah-e-Bhutto and said it runs to Kathore on the M-9 motorway, while project material from a Pakistan Peoples Party Sindh page describes it as the Shahrah-e-Bhutto Expressway, formerly associated with the Malir Expressway alignment. (thenews.pk) ### So is the opening on May 22 or May 23? May 23 is the date supported by the strongest available reporting. The News, The Nation, Pakistan Today, Daily Times and ProPakistani each reported over the past several days that the road would open on May 23 and that Bilawal Bhutto Zardari was expected to inaugurate it. (nation.com.pk) A Daily Times report said the formal ceremony would be held on Saturday, May 23, at 4 p.m. at Kathore Toll Plaza in Karachi. That is the most specific event detail surfaced in the reporting reviewed here. ### What exactly is Shahrah-e-Bhutto? The corridor is described as about 39 kilometres long and as a high-speed, access-controlled route in Karachi. (thenews.pk) A PPP Unit Sindh project page says it stretches along the Malir River from Korangi Creek Avenue toward the Karachi-Hyderabad Motorway near Kathore. Other recent reports describe the route more broadly as running from the Korangi or Qayyumabad side of the city to Kathore. (dailytimes.com.pk) The project page says the road is a 3x3-lane corridor and calls it Sindh’s largest public-private partnership project. Recent local reports put the project cost at about 57 billion Pakistani rupees. ### Who is saying what about the launch? Senator Waqar Mehdi said the project would be inaugurated by Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and described it as a major infrastructure scheme for Karachi, according to reports in The Nation and APP material republished by UrduPoint. (pppunitsindh.gov.pk) Sindh Senior Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon also said the road would open on May 23, according to Pakistan Today and ProPakistani. Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah had earlier said the road would be opened before Eid ul Adha, according to Geo.tv. Another report said he had previously set an earlier target for full operations, underscoring that the timetable has shifted over time. ### What is the road supposed to do for Karachi traffic? (nation.com.pk) Recent reports say the corridor is intended to cut travel times and ease congestion by giving traffic a faster route between eastern and southeastern parts of Karachi and the M-9 motorway. The News said it would reduce travel time and help transform the city’s transport infrastructure, while project material says it is meant to improve connectivity to industrial and residential areas. (geo.tv) Those claims come from officials and project backers. Independent, post-opening travel-time data was not available in the material reviewed. ### What happens next? May 23 is the next date to watch. If the schedule holds, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari is due to attend the inauguration ceremony at Kathore Toll Plaza at 4 p.m., and the road is expected to open to the public the same day, according to local reports. (thenews.pk) (dailytimes.com.pk)