Malir Expressway is a 39 km under-construction expressway between KPT Interchange (through Qayyumabad) and the Karachi-Hyderabad Motorway near Kathore, along the Malir River in Karachi, Pakistan.[1] One of the major infrastructure developments in Karachi city which is unviable for the provincial government and detrimental to the city's climate. It was announced that half of it would be opened on 14 August 2023, but the opening has been indefinitely delayed after the Asian Development Bank withdrew the funding for the construction;[2] as of right now there is illegal excavation happening on the Malir River bed and the fields of Malir; it is unlikely that Expressway will be completed given the litigation and damage to the only surviving river in Karachi.
It will be a four-lane carriageway,[3] however it has also been declared to be a six-lane carriageway in the documentation of the Asian Development Bank. It will have a three-lane service road on both sides.
The project includes three flyovers and eight underpasses.[4] Malir expressway is a 4-lane with 3m side Shoulders dual carriageway and a 7.9m raised central median, for future expansion.[5]
Design, Built, Finance, Operate & Maintain and Transfer (DBFOT) arrangement with a concession period of 28 years[6]
The expressway would serve as the Southern alternative route for carrying traffic of the port and industrial areas to main highways.[7] It will not reduce traffic on the existing Shahrah-e-Faisal since the expected traffic flow will be mostly of high-income car passengers, whereas the traffic on Sharae Faisal will be redistributed on all the other public transport projects happening in the city