Infrastructure Development before independent.

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Panjnad Headworks, Bahawalpur Under Construction in 1930's.

 

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During 1886-1947, in Punjab, Pakistan significant internal migrations took place due to creation of 9 canal colonies by British. Uncultivable lands in Lyallpur, Sorgodha, Shahpur, Sahiwal, Multan, Gujranwala, Sheikhupura, Gujarat & Sialkot Dists were turned into cultivable land.
The canal colonies were created to meet the imperial British needs of wheat and cotton and other agri-produce etc for use in Britain, to raise mares, mules and studs and camels for the police and army, and to decongest the crowded parts of the province.

British created network of barrages & canals to irrigate land for cheap agri-produce for UK. For its transportation, railway line was also laid between Lahore & Karachi. Eastern banks of all major canals were laid higher for better defensive positions against Russian invasion.

Canal systems depended on an upstream single controlling unit to decide water allocation, release & timing. The local community’s control was ‘ceded’, structurally, to a non-local distant power. The tap could be turned on & off by the British.

The canals cemented the British control of a region, provided immense profits and secured for the British, an enforced and coercively obligated loyalty of their colonised subjects.
Horse was not a local animal in Ancient Pakistan during Indus Valley Civilisation. Was introduced by migrants by 1500 BC. Later it was locally bred/raised. Large chunk of land was allotted even by British for rearing horses locally. This land was known as the Ghori Paal Murabbas.

What British created was for their own interest. Benefits that people of Pakistan supposedly gained were incidental at best. British laid railways for transportation of military personnel & hardware for probable Russian invasion and for transportation of cheap trade items to UK.

 

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1930: Chiniot Railway Bridge Under Construction...

 

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This is Sukkur's famous "Lens Down Bridge" What is known as the "Kanchi Bridge". This railway bridge was built in 1889 but engineers were not hopeful of its stability at the time.

 

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A road to Yousaf Khel of Momand Tribal Territory was made by Britishers in 1935..
This is Nahqi mountain, where recently a tunnel has been constructed by FWO.

 

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October. 1923, Karachi Sea Port...

 

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Sukkur Barrage is a barrage on the River Indus near the city of Sukkur in the Sindh province of Pakistan.
The barrage was built during the British Raj from 1923 to 1932 and was named Lloyd Barrage.
The Sukkur Barrage, is the pride of Pakistan's irrigation system as it is the largest single irrigation network of its kind in the world.
It irrigates from Sukkur district in the north, to Mirpurkhas/Tharparkar and Hyderabad districts in the south of Sindh, almost all parts of the province.
It is situated about 500 kilometres (300 miles) northeast of Karachi, 5 kilometres (3 miles) below the railway bridge, or the Sukkur Gorge.
introduction of barrage-controlled irrigation system resulted in more timely water supplies for the existing cultivated areas of Sindh.

 

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Some ceremony going on at the Khojok Tunnel entrance.
Year: 1910,,,

The Khojak Tunnel, is a 3.91 km railway tunnel in the Toba Achakzai range in the Qilla Abdullah District of Balochistan province, Pakistan. It is located 6,381 ft above sea level. The tunnel was constructed in 1891 under the Khojak Pass.

 

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The Lansdowne Bridge in Sukkur was not constructed in 1843. The construction of Lansdowne Bridge, which was the largest cantilever bridge in the world at the time of its completion, began in 1887 and was completed in 1889. The bridge connected Lahore with Karachi and was named after the then Viceroy of India, Lord Lansdowne.

Here's a more detailed breakdown:

• Lansdowne Bridge: A major infrastructure project:
  The bridge was a crucial link in the railway network, connecting the granary of British India (Lahore) with the port of Karachi.
• Construction challenges:
  The bridge posed significant engineering challenges, particularly due to the Indus River's violent nature and the need to build on a silty bottom.
• Innovative solutions:
  To overcome the challenges, giant derricks, temporary bridges, and other innovative solutions were employed.
• Impact:
  The bridge played a vital role in connecting the region and facilitating trade and transportation.
  [
  
  
  
  

  Construction of Lansdowne Bridge, Sukkur, 1885-1889​

  Posted on 3 May 2017
• by John C.
  
  Rohri abutment from the east, 1887, Y30244A_17
  The Royal Commonwealth Society Library is delighted to have acquired at auction a stunning presentation album commemorating the opening on 25 March 1889 of the Lansdowne Bridge, which spans the Indus River between Sukkur and Rohri in the Sindh province of Pakistan (Y30244A). It is signed by the engineer who superintended the construction, Frederick Ewart Robertson (1847-1912). After articling with a British railway engineer, Robertson joined the Indian Public Works Department in 1868, working on the North Western State Railway. He went on to an extremely successful career, serving as Chief Engineer of the East Indian Railway, President of the Egyptian Railway Board and on the British Council of the Institute of Civil Engineers.
  
  
  On horizontal tie, Bukkur, 200′ above water, 1888, Y30244A_37
  During the British colonial era, the North Western Railway had been extended to Sukkur by 1879, but relied upon a steam ferry to cross the Indus to Rohri, which was limited, slow and unwieldy. A crossing was considered essential to link Lahore with the major port of Karachi on the Arabian Sea, and the section where the Indus is divided by the island of Bukkur was chosen as the most advantageous. Bridging the smaller Sukkur channel was straightforward, since its rocky bottom provided a solid foundation for masonry piers, but spanning the wider Rohri channel was a more challenging task, since its silty bottom would not allow pillars to be employed.
  
  Progress, Oct 1888, Y30244A_26
  Between 1872 and 1882 various designs were considered, before one by the British civil engineer Sir Alexander Meadows Rendel (1829–1918) was accepted. Rendel had been appointed consulting engineer to the East Indian Railway during the late 1850s. His work in India was distinguished by other major bridging projects, including the Upper Son Bridge of Patna, the Alexandra Bridge over the Chenab, the Hardinge Bridge over the Ganges, and the Empress Bridge over the Sutlej. Rendel’s design for Lansdowne Bridge featured two anchored cantilevers, each 310 feet long, carrying a suspended span of 200 feet in the middle. The girder contract was awarded to Westwood, Baillie & Co. of London, who assembled the 170 feet tall cantilevers in their yard, amazing spectators, before shipping the parts to India. When completed in 1889, the Lansdowne Bridge became the longest rigid girder bridge span in the world. Sadly six workers died during construction: four from falls and two from equipment falling upon them. In monetary terms, the total cost was roughly 2.7 million rupees.
  
  Erecting the centre span, 1889, Y30244A_57
  Every stage of this arduous engineering project is thoroughly documented in the album’s 65 photographs, beginning with the bridging of the Sukkur channel in 1885 (Y30244A/2-6), and concluding with a two-part panorama of the completed Lansdowne Bridge (Y30244A/64-65). The bridge was formally opened by Lord Reay, the Governor of Bombay, who deputised for the Viceroy, Lord Lansdowne, after whom the bridge was named. Reay unlocked an ornamental padlock, designed by J. L. Kipling, Principal of the Mayo School of Art (and father of the famous writer Rudyard Kipling), releasing the iron gates which restricted access to the bridge. In Y30244A/63, Reay can be seen holding the padlock while Robertson holds the key. Robertson’s second in command M.S.N. Hecquet also appears in the photo. It should be possible to identify other members of the construction team in the album, such as Overseer A.D. Hecquet, Sub-Overseer Faiz Mahomed and assistant engineers P. Duncan, R. Egerton and J. Adam. Robertson was created a Companion of the Indian Empire in recognition of the monumental task of completing the bridge, and eventually went into partnership with Rendel in 1898.
  
  Opening ceremony, 1889, Y30244A_63
  The album was commissioned, probably by the North Western Railway, to commemorate the opening of the bridge. The vast majority of photographs were the work of G.W. Woodcroft of Bangalore. This copy was presented by Robertson to a G. Riley as indicated by a manuscript dedication, ‘in recognition of the assistance received from him.’ It has proved impossible as yet to trace Riley, who may have been a private contractor, perhaps employed by Westwood, Baillie & Co.
  
  Ayub Bridge, 1962, World Bank, Y30222B_5
  The Lansdowne Bridge still functions, although rail traffic was transferred to the great steel Ayub arch bridge, built alongside it between 1960 and 1962, so close in fact, that from a distance, the two appear as one structure. An image from another RCS collection records the final stages of its construction and it was opened by Pakistan’s President Muhammad Ayub Khan on 6 May 1962.
• 
  
• The acquisition of the Lansdowne Bridge album reinforces the RCS’s existing strengths in railway history, and particularly in South Asia, exemplified by important early photographs of the North Bengal State Railway, Y3022S, and the Nilgiri Railway, Y3022TTTT, among others. The Lansdowne Bridge album (Y30244A) is currently receiving conservation before it will be digitised and made freely available on Cambridge Digital Library.