Photos by the author

The ever-busy Korangi road; one of the most important transport belt of industrial Karachi

Korangi Road in Karachi never sleeps. Round the clock it is either busy or very busy. Try taking it during the morning and evening rush hours and your patience will be tested to stretching point.

The Korangi Industrial Area, one of the most important in Pakistan, is situated along this road. It is a pity that the main road in an area that provides a good chunk of Pakistan’s wealth is not looked after properly.  There is a bridge, notorious for stalled trucks, that the locals call the “Bhari Pull” (The Heavy Bridge).  Heavy in this context means haunted and cursed.  I can vouch for the fact that I have never come across any bridge where one finds so many stalled vehicles so frequently.  One day, I saw throngs of people peeping below from the bridge rails.  It turned out that a truck had gone off the bridge into the ravine nearly thirty feet below.

Despite the dust, noise and fumes, the road, the service lanes and the footpaths are humming with businesses.  It is a very lively place where you can go and just watch people. One section of the road that passes over a filth strewn stream is the site of Tuesday, Thursday and God knows how many other bazaars, where every kind of household item can be purchased for rock bottom prices.

The undisputed kings of this road are the container trucks. By some mysterious arrangement with the municipal corporation, sections of the road are used as parking lots.  At such locations, you can find trucks parked two abreast for long stretches of the road, further choking the already busy traffic.

If anyone wants to feel the pulse of Industrial Karachi, Korangi road is great place to visit.  Don’t forget to order some samosa and jalebi and wash it down with a cup of hot tea!

 The Korangi road and its arteries are used as parking lot for container trucks

 

Businesses have cropped up all along the road

 

 There is always some construction along the road, adding to the dust and chaos

 The infamous “haunted” bridge, that is always under repair of some sort

 Everyone is busy and serious.  No idlers on Korangi Road.

 God bless KMC for building this over-pass. 

 This restaurant at the busy part of the road is open 24 hours

 This contended gentleman was praising the tea and the cool Karachi evening breeze as he sat at one of the footpath chai shops

 Signs of destruction, decay and reconstruction exist all along the road

 The overhead pedestrian bridge; a big boon for the pedestrians, and a great spot for photographers

 

 Hand carts with every conceivable type of goods line the road

  Steel spaghetti— the sinews of the buildings sprouting all along the road

 Is there life without Jaleebi, Samosa and Pakoras? Hot, fresh and spiced with dust and diesel fumes

 The foot-paths along the road are in reality food-paths

 

 Colorful chappals on display in a side alley

 The walls of the pedestrian bridge offer excellent advertising space

 Grinding Naswar (snuff).  Given the large number of trucks that ply the Korangi Road, there is a great demand among the mostly Pathan drivers.

 

 A jolly taxi driver parked on the service road

 This tuck shop tucked under the pedestrian bridge offers every kind of snack and even Biryani

 Korangi road is tops when it come to offering cheap food and world class computer education

 

 Lucky Tuck Shop, tucked away under the pedestrian bridge

 Sunglasses are in great demand among industrial workers and truck drivers of Korangi