Allama Iqbal Road: Getting worse, before it gets better

Irked residents complain that rain adds to their problems.

LAHORE:

The condition of Allama Iqbal Road has only deteriorated further one month after MNA Sardar Ayaz Sadiq and District Coordination Officer Ahad Cheema raised hopes on June 29, promising a high quality road and adequate drains in six months.

Mustajab Saeed, a resident of Garhi Shahu, said that the road had been neglected by previous governments as well. He said there had been no patch-work on the road for years. As a result the road was potted and unsafe for vehicles. He said there had been many accidents due to the poor road surface.

He said that the authorities had also not acted against shopkeepers who had illegally extended their shops to encroach on the right of way. “Completing this road is a matter of a couple of months, only if the chief minister makes it a priority,” he added.

MNA Sadiq, however, told The Express Tribune that the National Engineering and Services Pakistan (NESPAK) was designing the road and the drains along it. “I want the road to be built to such specification that it lasts for at least 15 years.” He added, “But obviously, construction cannot start during monsoon rains.” Sadiq said that the restoration work on the road will cost Rs550 million. A 14-foot deep sewer line will be laid in the first phase. Once the sewer work concludes, construction of 2.92 kilometres road will be started.

Sadiq said that WASA will likely take up to two months to lay the sewers. “I wanted high quality work. So the contract has been given to the National Logistics Cell.” Sadiq said he was focusing on the quality of work and not the deadlines.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 25^th,  2011.