New traffic plan for Karachi is 'need of the hour'

Syed Murad Ali Shah directs officials to devise traffic plan in three months, to implement in June

KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has stressed the need for devising new traffic plans for Saddar, areas in the vicinity of Hotel Metropole, Clifton and on II Chundrigar Road, in light of traffic jams and poor flow of traffic on Karachi's thoroughfares during rush hours.

Presiding over a meeting at the CM House on Wednesday, he said that that the worsening state of traffic was a manifestation of "poor traffic management and planning," and that working on new traffic plans for the said areas was "the need of the hour." Expressing these views, the CM called a meeting to work out new traffic plans and discuss ways for improving traffic management.

Briefing the CM on the issue, Karachi commissioner Iftikhar Shallwani suggested making the Club Road one-way and replacing old signals with new ones as ways to improve traffic in the city.

The CM, however, said that just making Club Road one-way wouldn't suffice and a "holistic approach" was needed to reduce traffic jams and improve traffic flow on the route leading from II Chundrigar Road to Shaheen Complex and ending at Avari Towers, after passing by Fawwara Chowk, Hotel Metropole and approaching Clifton via Sharae Faisal, in that order. He said that multiple roads needed to be made one-way on the route.

Moreover, the CM suggested employing traffic engineering techniques to clear traffic choking points near Hotel Metropole, Avari Towers and on II Chundrigar Road, ruling out the construction of flyovers and underpasses as possible solutions to Karachi's traffic problem.

He pointed out that two roads, one passing by the Governor House and the other passing by the Pakistan International Airlines office, connected Shaheen Complex to Fawwara Chowk and both were two-way. As a result, both roads were congested during rush hours, the CM said, adding that the road stretching between Fawwara Chowk and Saddar was choked near Avari Towers.

"Why is it so?" he asked, suggesting that steps be taken to divert some traffic from Saddar to the Army Selection Centre, Sharae Faisal or Regent Plaza. He further insisted on planning a route so that the commuters be able to reach Clifton from Fawwara Chowk without having to pass by Hotel Metropole.

Later, Karachi Package project directors Khalid Masroor and Baber Sani also presented a plan to deal with Karachi's traffic issues.

It was decided in the meeting that Shallwani, Karachi Additional Inspector General Ghulam Nabi Memon, Traffic DIG Javed Mahar, Masroor and the Karachi Development Authority traffic engineering bureau chief would visit different areas of the city to assess the situation of traffic and roads, identify roads that could be made one-way and suggest other measures for reducing traffic congestion.

Concluding the meeting, the CM gave the team three months to devise a feasible traffic plan, which he said should be implemented starting June 2020, when schools would be closed for summer vacations.