The bridge collapsed around 10am. No one was hurt, but the collapse led to a traffic jam. On June 28, 2012, a driver was killed when a pedestrian bridge on the Ring Road collapsed on his truck. An inquiry found that the truck’s bucket had been up and had crashed into the top of the concrete bridge, causing it to collapse.

The National Logistics Cell (NLC) had been building the bridge at Package 17 eight months ago, but was stopped after Lahore Ring Road Authority (LRRA) engineers declared it to be dangerous during an inspection, noting that the beam section of the bridge was cracked, said LRRA officials on the condition of anonymity.

The LRRA directed the NLC to take the beam off the pillars and replace it with a new beam so that work on the pedestrian bridge could be completed, and also for safety reasons, the sources said,

The beam (girder) that collapsed on Thursday was originally meant for a pedestrian bridge at Package 6 of the Ring Road. But the provincial government ordered that the instead of a concrete bridge, this should be a steel bridge, in view of the recent incident in which an overhead collapsed on a truck, killing the driver.

A few months later, LRRA officials told the NLC that they could use the beam to build a bridge at Package 17. The beam developed a crack during transport but was put up anyway. In an inspection before the bridge was finished, LRRA engineers detected the crack and instructed the NLC to take the bridge down, the LRRA officials said.

This correspondent contacted several officials from the NLC, but none was willing to talk about why the NLC had not taken the bridge down. NLC Punjab Project Director Shahid Majeed was said to be out of the country.

LRRA Director (Engineering) Col (r) Waheed was contacted several times and assured The Express Tribune that he would talk on the record, but he later stopped answering his phone.

There are more than 20 pedestrian bridges on the Ring Road, of which 16 are made from concrete and the others from steel.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 24^th, 2013.

The Metro Bus has been inundated with passengers since its opening on February 10. Those behind the project had expected the crowds to thin out after the initial excitement of travelling on the shiny new 27-km bus corridor and elevated track wore off. But the crowds did not thin out and some 120,000 people a day on average are using the bus service.

The Punjab Metro Bus Authority (PMBA) ordered 19 new buses around a month after the inauguration. The buses from China Volvo are to arrive in Karachi by June 20, and in Lahore some 10 days later.

“We ordered new buses because of the high passenger load,” said PMBA General Manager (Operations) Uzair Shah.

The expansion of the fleet would mean that the buses wouldn’t always be so packed, he added.

Some 45 buses are operational on the bus-only track on Ferozepur Road. But the authorities have been unable so far to run a smart traffic signalling system at the eight junctions where the bus must interact with general traffic. As a result, the PMBA has struggled to run the buses at fixed intervals as planned.

Lines 2 and 3

The PMBA recently received a feasibility report from Turkish company Ulasim for a second potential Metro Bus line from Thokar Niaz Beg to MAO College along Multan Road, a length of 12.6 kilometres.

Ulasim is also working on a feasibility study for a third line from Azadi Chowk to the Ring Road via the City Railway Station and Daroghewala along GT Road. The report is due in some 30 days.

Shah, the PMBA general manager, said that the report for line 2 was a preliminary one and it would likely undergo several changes, so he did not wish to share it.

He said that the new Punjab government would decide which route to start work on first.

Revised rates

Passengers on the Metro Bus are currently charged a flat rate of Rs20 per journey. A PMBA official said that the authority would advise the new government to set destination-specific fares, along the lines of the rates notified by the Lahore Transport Authority.

According to the LTA rates, the maximum ticket price would be Rs36 for travelling the length of the 27km track.

Shah said that the new government would decide whether to revise the rates or not.

He said that cards had been introduced for regular travellers in February shortly after the bus service was inaugurated.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 22^nd, 2013.

Raza was among 25 people 24 of them Lahore Development Authority employees who lost their lives on May 9, when a fire broke out in a record room on the seventh floor of the LDA Plaza on Egerton Road. The blaze spread to a couple of floors above and below and fire fighters took 36 hours to put it out.

The Express Tribune has learnt that after a fire at a shoe factory on Bund Road in September 2012 in which at least 23 people were killed, the LDA moved a request to the Civil Defence Department for fire safety training, but never followed up.

The top three floors and one other floor of the nine-storey LDA Plaza building house LDA offices, while the other five storeys have been leased to 20 tenants. According to witnesses, one of the main reasons for the high death toll was that many workers at the building appeared not to have taken the threat of the fire seriously and remained at their desks for far too long. Another reason, according to Rescue 1122 officials, was that the fire fighters were only called to the scene after LDA people had tried to put out the fire themselves and failed.

Some 50 people ended up trapped inside the building. Some were rescued, some were killed attempting to escape the flames by jumping out the window, and others were killed by smoke or fire.

“Had these people been given training, they would have known the consequences of waiting,” said Imran Raza. He said that he worked at an international company where they were given fire safety training every few months. “Why can’t government employees working in high-rise buildings be given fire safety training?”

The LDA contacted the Civil Defence Department in October 2012. Civil Defence officials said that they contacted the LDA several times after that to arrange a training programme, but the authority did not respond. The Civil Defence office even prepared a schedule for a one-week training programme in January 2013, and delivered the proposal to the LDA administration office, but did not receive a response.

District Officer (Civil Defence) Qari Alam Sher said that they had started a publicity campaign on the importance of fire safety training in September 2012 after the Bund Road factory blaze, putting up banners around the city on the instructions of then DCO Noorul Amin Mengal. They soon received several requests for training, including a request from the LDA in the form of a letter from Deputy Director (Administration) Ali Saeed in October 2012.

They conducted training sessions at several factories, but not for the LDA.

Sher said that the Civil Defence Department could have trained all security staff and four personnel from each LDA department in one week. “When people are made aware of the consequences, they tend to respond urgently to emergency situations. Fire safety training not only includes how to fight fires using extinguishers and hydrants, but also how to evacuate people from the building,” he said.

LDA Director (Administration) Khalid Pervez said that a training session had taken place, but only for four people from the entire LDA staff. He claimed that this was all Civil Defence had proposed for them. Asked about the detailed one-week training programme proposed by the Civil Defence office, he said that he was not aware of it. He said that the question should be directed to the management of the LDA and Other Sponsors (LOS), a management committee in charge of the building’s affairs including fire safety. The LOS is led by a secretary who is an LDA director on deputation. LOS Secretary Akbar Nakai was contacted several times on the phone, but did not respond.

LDA Director (Electrical and Mechanical Engineering) Abdur Razzaq, who has the additional charge of LOS deputy director (EME), said that he was not aware about the Civil Defence Department’s proposal. He said that he did not believe that the fire was caused by a short circuit. “The wiring couldn’t have caused the fire there,” he said.

He added that it was possible that someone had started the fire on purpose “since the LDA has some valuable information”.

A Rescue 1122 official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that the Punjab Forensic Science Agency had taken over the fire investigation. Their experts had collected samples from the building to ascertain the cause of the blaze. He said that he could not say what had caused the fire.

The LDA has announced Rs1 million compensation for the family of each victim and promised a job to one of their children. “No matter how much compensation is given, it will not heal them,” said Imran Raza.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 20^th, 2013.

The E&T office stopped handing out new registration plates for motorcycles in February 2012 and for cars in March 2013. Though an auction to hire a new contractor for the supply of registration plates was held last month, no contract can be awarded until the bids undergo a technical evaluation which will take at least another six weeks. All bids had failed this stage at an earlier auction in March.

The E&T Department issued a notification on May 4 instructing offices not to accept payments for new number plates. “We had to stop because a lot of people were complaining about not receiving number plates though they had paid for them,” said E&T Region C Director Masudul Haq.

At least 400,000 motorcyclists in Lahore have paid for number plates (Rs400 each) since last year and are yet to receive them, according to E&T officials. A few thousand car owners are also awaiting plates. Meanwhile, they have had to get unofficial plates made by local vendors.

Four companies submitted bids on April 9: AGCN, Inbox, 3M and Symbol. The samples they submitted have been sent to Germany for metallurgical testing. The results are expected at the end of June, said E&T Department Director General Humayun Azhar Sheikh.

He said that it would take another week to assess the financial bids.

He estimated that new plates would be available in about three months. The E&T Department also held an auction in March 2013, but the bids failed the technical evaluations.

Verdict reserved

The E&T Department is currently engaged in a court case with 3M, its previous supplier, which it had sought to blacklist from the new auction for the contract for registration plates.

Both sides have completed their arguments and the Lahore High Court, at the last hearing on May 14, reserved its verdict. The court has put a stay on the awarding of the contract until the case is decided.

E&T officials said that they had blacklisted 3M because it had breached the terms of its contract, which 3M disputes.

They said that the supplier had been allowed to take part in the auction so that, in case the LHC decides against the department, the bidding process would not have to be restarted.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 19^th, 2013.

“Transparency of the elections can be gauged from the fact that ballot papers were found in garbage dumps,” Maulana Sherani told a news conference in Quetta on Friday. However, he added that the JUI-F would respect the mandate of the people and would not obstruct the majority party from forming the next government.

According to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), the Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) leads in Balochistan with 10 seats, followed by Pakistan Muslim League (9), National Party (7), JUI-F (6), Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (5) and eight independent candidates.

Maulana Sherani said ‘Western powers’ wanted to create friction between nationalist and right-wing parties to pave the way for ‘civil war in the province’.

He feared that military operations would be carried out in Balochistan’s Pashtun- and Baloch-dominated areas in the name of ‘Talibanisation’ and ‘separatist insurgency’ at the behest of some ‘Western power’.  “Such acts would deteriorate the situation in the province,” he added.

Responding to a question, Maulana Sherani said his party had a clear stance on the Balochistan issue and it has made ‘commendable efforts’ for creating an environment of mutual consensus among various religious groups.

ANP MPA supports PML-N

The lone MPA-elect of the Awami National Party, Engineer Zamrak Khan Achakzai, announced his unconditional support for Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz on Friday, adding to the latter’s numerical strength in the provincial assembly.

Addressing a news conference in Quetta, PML-N’s Balochistan chapter President Sardar Sanaullah Zehri said positive results had been achieved by a six-member committee that held talks with the PkMAP and National Party.

Zehri thanked ANP’s central and provincial leaderships for their unconditional support, adding that Balochistan was facing a law and order crisis.

“I assure the people of Balochistan that I will deliver on all the promises I’ve made to them,” said Zehri.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 18^th, 2013.

A team of officials from the city government, Lahore Development Authority, Traffic Engineering and Transport Planning Agency (Tepa), City Traffic Police and Parks and Horticulture Authority was set up earlier this month after Caretaker Chief Minister Najam Sethi suggested that solar power would resolve the problem of traffic jams occurring due to traffic signals failing during power blackouts.

Members of the team, which has held several meetings, told The Express Tribune that First Bio Gas, Izhar Private Limited and Qarshi Pvt Ltd had expressed an interest in installing traffic signals powered by solar panels at five junctions. The companies would set up and maintain the lights for 10 years, and in return get free advertising at the site. The proposed junctions include two on The Mall, two on Gulberg’s Main Boulevard and one on Ali Zeb Road.

The officials stressed that the project was in the early stages and that the specifications of the new traffic signals and the first junctions to be converted were not final. The project would also require approval from the incoming provincial government.

Tepa Chief Engineer Saeed Akhtar said that the companies would set up solar panels and change the lights in the traffic signals, replacing the 90-volt bulbs with 10-volt LEDs. Each junction would cost around Rs700,000 to convert, he estimated. Each junction has 12 to 20 assemblies (an assembly is a set of red, yellow and green lights). There are a total of 156 junctions in the city.

Around two years ago, Tepa set up a set of solar-powered traffic signals at the Shaukat Khanam junction, at a cost of Rs1.5 million, to see if running traffic lights on solar power was feasible. Akhtar said that the project had worked well.

On May 6, the caretaker chief minister said that traffic signals rendered non-functional due to load shedding were causing traffic jams. He said that converting traffic signals to run on solar power would reduce congestion in the city and directed the LDA to take measures for the conversion of signals to solar power in a phased programme, starting with The Mall. He said that sponsors should be sought for the conversion in order to reduce the cost of the programme.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 18^th, 2013.

The Lahore Parking Company (LPC), which is supervising the privatisation process, received technical and financial bids on April 16. Previously, the company said that it would evaluate the technical bids in a week and then open and assess the financial bids of the companies that qualified.

However, the LPC has not yet disclosed the results of its technical evaluation of the bids, nor has it stated when it will do so. The bidding companies have been told merely to wait.

LPC officials said that the decision on the auction had been deferred because the new managing director, appointed amidst the transfers enacted by the caretaker government, was reluctant to make a decision. They said that the acting managing director had asked the authorities to reconsider his posting.

Mian Shakeel was replaced as managing director on an acting basis by Chaudhry Muhammad Ashraf, the executive district officer for Works and Services. Asked about the auction, Ashraf told The Express Tribune that he wouldn’t answer any questions about the LPC. Asked why, he said: “I only have acting charge. I have no interest in this.”

LPC Media Manager Fasiuddin said that under the terms and conditions of the auction, the company had 90 days to evaluate the bids. Asked why they had earlier stated that the bids would be evaluated in seven days, he said that the process was taking longer than expected. He said that he could not say when the assessment would be completed.

The Turkish company UCS, Saudi company Advanced Global Communication Networks, and a joint venture of Mansha Brothers and a foreign company submitted bids for the parking contract. LPC sources said that AGCN had the strongest technical bid.

LPC officials had hoped for more than three bids for the contract to manage the city’s parking facilities, which they said could generate some Rs1 billion a year in revenue. Fourteen companies had attended the pre-bid conference on March 4 and obtained the bid document after the contract was advertised on February 17.

The bids were initially to be submitted on March 19, but the companies at the pre-bid conference sought more time to study the revenue potential of the city’s parking areas and the deadline was extended to April 2. The 14 companies that expressed an interest were the Frontier Works Organisation, Toll Link, Inbox AGCM, UCS, Mesi Enterprises. Golden Eagle Training, Chaudhry and Company, Vital International, KT, AA Enterprises, Future Link Green Parking, Theeta Technology and ICT. Toll Link, AGCM, ICT and FWO then again sought an extension and the bid date was changed to April 16.

According to the LPC, the city has around 250 parking lots which can accommodate between 10,000 and 12,000 vehicles at any one time. On average, each parking lot holds five times its capacity in one day.

The company that wins the bid will get a seven-year contract. The company will have to pay a monthly rate to the LPC, which will pay 75% of its profits to the city district government, on a yearly basis. If no company qualifies to win the contract, LPC will try and manage the parking facilities itself.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 13^th, 2013.

Wearing a white shirt with a bat on it and the PTI flag painted on his face, Hamza, 5, accompanied his mother to a polling station in NA-128. “Aye, aye, PTI,” he chanted, running around as if in a playground.

“Hamza has been to several PTI processions, including on March 23.

He loves the PTI songs and starts singing whenever he sees a picture of Imran Khan or the PTI flag,” said his proud mother Shafia Butt.

She said she had tried to stop Hamza from singing inside the polling station, fearing that election staff would tell her to remove him, “but they were all very nice to him”.

“It’s important that we educate our kids about the importance of voting. Hopefully Hamza will remember this experience and tell his own children about it one day. I think all parents should bring their children to the polling station,” she said.

Saleem Bashir, a resident of FCC Colony, agreed. He had brought his four-year-old son, Adnan, with him to watch the electoral process.

“It’s like taking your children to a mosque or to a church so they can learn about their religion,” he said. “This experience will register and when he grows up he will make sure that he votes.”

“Shair aik wari pher,” (The Tiger one more time), chanted Amna Zafar, 10, as she stood in the midst of a group of PTI supporters outside Model Girls High School in Model Town. The PTI supporters sang back, outnumbering the little girl, but Amna was unfazed and shouted as loud as she could.

“They are burger supporters,” said Amna, who had accompanied her mother Samia. “Only PML-N can bring change,” she added.

Samia said that her family had supporters of PTI and PPP too, so Amna was used to some healthy political banter.

“She wanted to come see the process of voting as she will also one day be part of it,” she added.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 12^th, 2013.

The city government allowed candidates to put up election advertisements around three weeks ago. The Parks and Horticulture Authority collected a fee for each ad put up. There was an understanding that all the adverts would be removed on May 9, when the campaign ended.

But since PHA and city government officials were assigned polling duties, it became clear that they would not have the manpower or time to remove all the material. The PHA then decided to clear areas within a 400-metre radius of the 3,359 polling stations in the city. However, the PHA has also given up on that plan because of a lack of staff and time. Now, the PHA plans to remove the material on Sunday, the day after the polls.

PHA Marketing Director Mian Mudassir said that there was a plan to remove all the banners and posters near polling stations, but town administration officials were busy with election duties. He said that the PHA had received no instructions from the city government regarding the removal of campaign material.

District Coordination Officer Rizwan Mehboob said that given that city government staff were all busy, it was simply not possible to remove all the campaign ads. He said that campaigning was supposed to end by May 9, but by this time, the adverts were unlikely to change any voters’ minds as to who to vote for. “I don’t think it’s a big issue,” he said.

The PTI was the biggest spender on street advertising, according to PHA records, followed by the PML-N.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 11^th, 2013.

Talha, a student, rushed to the scene and saw his father perched on a window sill at the seventh floor of the building. He made several more calls to his father, in between fielding calls from concerned relatives.

“The last words I heard from him were, ‘Don’t worry, Rescue 1122 is here, they will save us,’” Talha says, speaking to The Express Tribune at Services Hospital. Shortly after the fifth and final phone call, Talha saw his father plunge to his death, one of at least eight who died in Thursday’s fire.

Talha says he could see his father screaming for help, but neither the helicopter hovering around the building nor the rescue teams below could reach him. Rescuers held a life net for him to jump onto. First, Talib Hussain pushed out Muhammad Asif from the window, though he feared the man was already dead from smoke inhalation, says Talha. “He said that he had to try to save him,” he says.

As rescuers removed the limp and lifeless Asif from the net, Hussain jumped too. “They moved the net seconds before he jumped,” says Talha. Hussain landed on the exhaust of an air-conditioning unit, and died at the scene.

Ganga Ram Hospital

Shams Alam, personal assistant to the LDA director general, and Syed Waseem, another LDA employee, were rescued from the ninth floor of the plaza via an emergency ladder.

“It was an agonising wait, watching rescuers try to get the ladder aligned to the building and reaching up to him,” said his son Naveed Alam, speaking at Ganga Ram Hospital, where his father was being treated for smoke inhalation. “I think the operation was very slow.”

“Rescue 1122 clearly needs more equipment for such rescue operations,” said Syed Aqeel, Waseem’s brother. He was grateful that his brother was safe, but sad at the deaths of some of his colleagues.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 10^th, 2013.