Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi inaugurated the pending northbound track of expressway on 28 January 2018, which starts from Mauripur and end at Sohrab Goth Interchange.

[3] The Lyari Expressway project was launched on 11 May 2002, with the aim of serving as a commuting artery connecting Mauripur Road and the M9 motorway, thus alleviating the burden of traffic plying on surface routes between to and from Karachi Port.

When work started on the Lyari Expressway in May 2002, the National Highway Authority (NHA) had expected to complete it in 30 months (i.e. by November 2004).

[4] The construction of Lyari Expressway was stopped for several years due to the restructuring of Municipal governments in Sindh and lack of funds.

Public attention was focussed on the Lyari, which wrecked (sic) destruction in 1977 when heavy rains caused severe flooding to 200 deaths.

Opposition from civil society led the Sindh government to arrange public hearings on the project in 1996 after which the Lyari Expressway was dropped and attention was focussed on the Northern Bypass for port traffic.

As part of this project, the people were given a compensation package that included an 80 square yard plot of land on the outskirts of Karachi and Rs 50,000 for construction.

The sites developed in Taiser Town, Hawke's Bay and Baldia are neat, clean and offer the advantage of an open environment.

It is said that when the Hawke's Bay site for the Lyari affectees was launched in 2002 the displaced people were virtually dumped in the open with no water, electricity or gas.

There has been pressure from groups within the country as well as foreign non-governmental agencies to halt construction or provide a better compensation package for the displaced people.