ADB backs out of multibillion-dollar Pakistan expressway project

Islamabad, April 29 The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has struck down the Malir Expressway in Pakistan from its list of priorities, backing out from financing the project, the media reported on Saturday.

In a letter to Advocate Abira Ashfaq, the lender's Accountability Mechanism office said that the "Malir Expressway Project is no longer an ADB-assisted project" following complaints from indigenous farmers who cited environmental damages and the threat of displacement, The News reported Saturday.

The development came as a victory for the farmers after they lost a petition against the project in the Sindh Environmental Protection Tribunal on April 15.

The tribunal had disposed of the plea challenging the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) approval accorded to the Malir Expressway project by the Sindh Environmental Protection Agency (Sepa).

It allowed the project but ordered the government to set up a committee to ensure that no environmental damage took place due to the project.

Indigenous farmers of Malir had lodged a complaint before the ADB against the project on September 22, 2022, with the help of Abira, following which the lender held an online meeting with the lawyer and others in October, The News reported.

In the same month, an ADB team from the Philippines along with its resident team of Pakistan visited Karachi and met Abira, Advocate Zubair Abro, who was fighting the case against the expressway in the tribunal, researcher Sadya Siddiqi and local resident Salman Baloch.

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