The need of the hour is to cut down on the increase in vehicle ownership.
KARACHI: Karachi is the financial and industrial hub of the country and its population is increasing rapidly because it is a major employment provider. Given its size and population, its transport system requires significant improvement and maintenance.
With the passage of time, Karachi’s transport problems have gone from bad to worse. Its transport system requires effective planning along with maintenance for efficient functioning. Given the state of the city’s infrastructure, it is unable to handle the massive demand for transport from Karachi’s burgeoning population. Spending huge sums on flyovers definitely improved the flow of traffic but this only solved the problem on a temporary basis as the city’s traffic continued to expand.
The need of the hour is to cut down on the increase in vehicle ownership. Recent studies have revealed that 300 new vehicles are added to the roads of Karachi every day. This is mainly due to the easy financing options available to those wishing to buy new vehicles. This leads to the city’s infrastructure eventually derailing and falling short on meeting Karachi’s transport needs. The resulting congestion can be witnessed on every arterial road of Karachi, from the Saddar area to National Highway.
The provincial government needs to take immediate steps towards reducing Karachi’s traffic congestion, as well as for establishing an efficient transport system throughout the city.
Syed Fazal Abbas Baqueri
Published in The Express Tribune, March 22nd, 2012.
