Officials predict these schemes are unlikely to be completed even in 2016. PHOTO: EXPRESS
The transport sector has been neglected by the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government as it has failed to complete various mega projects due to hurdles, improper planning and slow pace of work.
Insiders familiar with the matter told The Express Tribune these projects were announced earlier this year by the provincial government.
The multi-million projects included the Mass Transit System, a modern bus service and setting up of a Traffic Planning Engineering Unit (TPEU) worth Rs600 million.
TPEU is aimed at streamlining the traffic flow in the city. The unit would comprise traffic engineers and IT experts, who would suggest the transport department to set up U-turns, construct flyover, elevated u-turn, widen the road or install signals and overhead bridges before initiating the project.
According to insiders, officials in the transport department predict these schemes are unlikely to be completed even in 2016.
They said the PC-1 of TPEU has been approved, but it will take another five to six months to implement. On the other hand, officials fear implementing the project would neither yield results nor improve the situation given the existing infrastructure, narrow roads and rampant encroachment.
“The mess that we see daily on our roads is due to the lack of a modern transport system and poor planning,” an official of the department said. “People would not prefer to buy their own cars if they are provided with a comfortable transport system.”
He said, “If the government wants to ensure smooth flow of traffic, it must ban unlicenced, unfit and old vehicles and remove encroachment.”
When contacted, former traffic senior superintendent of police Wahid Mehmood said, “The Peshawar Development Authority did not carry out planning in 10 years to improve the transport system in the city.”
He added, “Existing roads have a volume to absorb 120,000 vehicles, but due to increase in population, vehicles and massive displacement from tribal areas, this volume has reached 750,000.”
According to Mehmood, the government is constructing 14 roads that would be completed in two-and-a-half years and will help absorb the existing volume to some extent.
“However, what will the government do after 10 years?” he added.
Mehmood suggested the government must link roads to Ring Road, construct flyovers, underpasses and design the existing roads in accordance with its needs. However, he was hopeful the unit will help in improving the infrastructure and devise a workable plan.
A senior officer in the transport department said the unit would deal with mobility and traffic flow, design the master plan and suggest provision of traffic engineering.
The official informed, “Traffic signals on various roads are not functioning since the past 10 years, but there is no one to report and repair them.”
Meanwhile, Transport Secretary Muhammad Zubair Asghar Qureshi could not be reached for comments over the matter despite repeated attempts to contact him.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 27th, 2015.
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