Lack of planning leads to traffic congestion on University Road

Rs777 million to be spent on the reconstruction of the city's main thoroughfare

KARACHI: The Sindh government may get full marks for its desire to construct the main thoroughfares of the city but when it comes to planning of such projects, the government fails miserably.

With the initiation of the long-awaited reconstruction of University Road, the government's lack of planning to provide an encroachment-free alternative route came to the forefront. The situation has been worsened by the commencement of different construction projects in the city.

Since the Board Office Flyover is being demolished, traffic moving towards Hyderi or North Karachi mostly travels on University Road, going towards Rashid Minhas Road and Nagan Chowrangi.

However, with the blockade of University Road's track towards Nipa, traffic has been diverted to the opposite track, which is being run two-way, and traffic is also plying on the service road.

A resident of the area, Salman Siddiqui, said that University Road already experiences an extremely high flow of traffic. Due to poor planning of the diversions, it has become impossible for commuters to use the main thoroughfare, he claimed.  Meanwhile, service roads are teeming with restaurants, push carts, illegal parking and encroachments of different kinds.

"The government should have at least removed the encroachments before digging up University Road," complained a resident of Hassan Square, Ashraf.  "It takes no less than an hour to travel to Nipa from Hassan Square."

On the other hand, the opposite track - towards Hassan Square from Nipa - was widened by the authorities by destroying footpaths. However, the rubble of the footpaths has not been removed yet and as a result the traffic movement has been slowed down drastically, leading to traffic being choked for hours.

A similar situation has arisen at Safoora Chowrangi, which has also been dug up without the removal of encroachments.

Why the hurry?

An official of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC), on the condition of anonymity, told The Express Tribune that they have limited time for the construction of University Road, as per the orders of Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah.

"We have only six months to construct the entire road along with footpaths and medians," he said, adding that the funds for the project have already been released.

Due to this, he said that the encroachments from the service road were not removed. Such activities, according to him, take time and energy, which can possibly halt the construction work. "The entire focus of the construction team is to complete the project in the given time period," he added.

However, KMC's assistant engineer for the project, Sami Khan, explained that the service road, which is full of encroachments, has not been designated to be used as a diversion.

For the diversion, the opposite track coming from Nipa towards Hassan Square, where two-way traffic is plying, is supposed to be used, he explained. In the morning, when the flow of traffic is high towards Jail Road, authorities widen the portion moving towards Hassan Square from Nipa, as the two-way traffic is separated by a rope, and in evenings they widen the opposite track by moving the rope.

Precarious situation

More than Rs777 million is being spent on the reconstruction of University Road, without replacing the faulty Karachi Water and Sewage Board's (KWSB) main 48-inch diameter water pipeline.

The pipeline, according to an official of the KMC, leaks every other day and damages the road. "The condition of the line is so bad that it needs to be replaced immediately," he said, adding that if the road is constructed without replacing the pipeline it will once again be damaged and the investment will go down the drain.

To this, Khan responded that the KWSB is already on board the construction project. However, he accepted that the replacement cost of the The pipeline is not in their budget and the water authority will have to replace it with their own funds.

KWSB's managing director Misbahuddin Farid was unavailable for comments.

Importance of the road

University Road, which starts all the way from Hassan Square till Safoora Chowrangi, has six varsities situated on it. These are the Federal Urdu University, Sir Syed University of Engineering and Technology, NED University of Engineering and Technology, Usman Institute of Technology, University of Karachi (KU) and Dow University's Ojha Campus.

Six health facilities - Aga Khan University Hospital, Liaquat National Hospital, Dow Hospital, Ojha Campus, Memon Medical Institute Hospital and Kiran Hospital - can also be reached via this road.  Given the significant of the road, the government's apathy towards the ill-planning of the diversions could lead to criminal negligence.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 20^th, 2016.