Urban development: So what do we do about Canal traffic?
The Supreme Court has asked the Lahore Bachao Tehreek to suggest green alternatives to a road-widening project to ease traffic problems on Canal Bank Road, while indicating that it sees the project as important for city residents.
A three-member bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry was conducting proceedings in a suo motu case and on various petitions challenging a government plan to widen a 3.5-km stretch of the road from Thokar Niaz Beg to Harbanspura.
The court directed Dr Pervez Hassan, who is mediating between the Punjab government and the Tehreek on the matter, to ensure he attends the next hearing on August 15 to answer objections raised by LBT members to a report on the project, produced by a seven-member committee that Dr Hassan set up.
Imrana Tiwana, convener of the LBT and secretary of the Lahore Conservation Society, said the seven-member committee should have been made up of experts on urban planning, engineering and the environment, but instead consisted mostly of government supporters. These included former minister Sartaj Aziz, PML-Nawaz MNA Ayaz Sadiq, the Lahore commissioner and Abid Sulehri. “How can they give recommendations against the government?” she said. She said that the canal and the trees on its banks should be declared an urban heritage park area.
Another LBT representative argued that widening the road would not solve the traffic problems on the road, merely delay them. “After six months the same level of traffic will return,” he said, adding that the congestion was due to the faulty design of the underpasses.
Faryal Ali Gohar said global warming was having a devastating effect on Pakistan’s environment and chopping down trees would only accelerate the problem. She said that development should benefit the many and not just the few who drove cars.
Tiwana also objected that the government had allocated funds for the project when it had been challenged in court. She said the money allocated was enough to buy 1,260 buses. It could also be better used to build footpaths and slow lanes. She said that Rs10 billion had been spent on 11 underpasses in Lahore and the money had been wasted.
Justice Saqib Nisar remarked that the congestion on Canal Bank Road affected students and people who worked in offices, not just rich people. He also noted that Canal Bank Road had made possible the construction of several residential schemes, and not just high-incomes ones, but ones for the poor too.
The bench asked the counsel for the Punjab government how many trees would be chopped down for the widening of the road. He replied that they would cut 60 trees and plant alternative trees elsewhere.
The chief justice observed that the judges were all concerned about the environment and asked the Tehreek to come up with “some amicable solutions” at the next hearing. Several NGO representatives and National College of Arts students attended the proceedings.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 12th, 2011.
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@Attiq Ahmed: To OCCO and Attiq Ahmed: Thank you for bringing reason, analysis and systemic sense to the discussion. In order to contribute to any debate it is essential that the issues do not get either over simplified or worse yet muddled to the point that there are irreconcilable dividing lines drawn. The Canal matter must not be stated, much less defined as a "widening" issue, not the live for environment or Lahore be put forth as "tree saving". Lahore, its citizens, the government, the professionals ( organizations, institutions, NGOs), need to understand the challenges in their total, systemic complexity and then put their heads together to find solutions. Most of the problems today: Canal, traffic congestion,deteriorating natural environment, depletion of resources, jittery economy, inflation......are not from "heaven". They are the consequences of piecemeal problem definitions and expedient solutions. As it is often put forward by the wisdom of genuine "healers" : do not look for magical cures for malfunctions that have been caused by sustained abuse of healthy life styles. My humble request is that sense prevails and long term, sustained and genuine research and professional experience based analyses and solutions-search approach is adopted. It is in this sense that I have found Attiq Ahmed's submission valuable and commendable.
How many road widening projects have actually worked? None!! The solution is public transport. I have planted many trees everywhere but it takes 20 saplings 20 YEARS to filter the air as would have a fully grown tree.....I live right on the canal and i do not mind waiting for a few more minutes if it means i do not lose anything of our precious environment and cultural heritage. I would also not mind using good public transport if it actually existed!! Shahbaz Sharif will keep on waging this war till there is not a single tree left standing in Lahore so that Lahore looks just like his ideal city Dubai, barren and soulless!!!
Introduce congestion charges for cars and spend the money on public transport. Those who can afford a car can pay for the privalage. Also develop alternate routes otherwise you end up with grid lock again.
OCCO's Stance on the Canal Road Widening Continued
As much as OCCO vilifies the car, we cannot deny the reality of the city as vehicle centric. Lahore already has the dirtiest air in Pakistan while its growing population makes it the 2nd largest city in the country and the 37th largest city on the planet[1]. According to an estimate from 2007, Pakistan imported 319,500 barrels a day making the country the 33rd largest consumer of imported oil[2]. With the current cost of oil at $106 per barrel[3], Pakistan’s consumption patterns from 2007at the current cost per barrel implies a cost of approximately $33 million dollars a day to keep the country buzzing with electricity and its roads humming with vehicles, whilst the country’s external foreign debt stood at a whopping $57.21 billion dollars as of December 31st 2010[4]. In OCCO’s opinion the current debate on the Canal Road widening is representative of a broader consumption pattern and at OCCO we believe there is a vital urgency to rationalize national expenditure and external debt pattern. We believe it is now time to change our growth paradigm from the Detroit Model to the Freiburg Model or as close as it can get…..
[1] Largest Cities of the World - (by metro population) WORLD ATLAS.COM http://www.worldatlas.com/citypops.htm [2]CIA HANDBOOK on Pakistan Oil - imports(bbl / Day) 2011 Country Ranks, By Rank http://www.photius.com/rankings/economy/oilimports20110.html [3] World Crude Oil Prices http://www.eia.doe.gov/dnav/pet/petpriwcokw.htm Price as of Tuesday 19-04-11 [4] Pakistan Economy 2011, CIA FACTBOOK http://www.theodora.com/wfbcurrent/pakistan/pakistaneconomy.html
@hm. Thank you so much for your response, but in case you didn't realize it's generally considered impolite to ask people to be quite. Now that said, and I certainly wish you aren't quite but are happy to debate. Please read the comment I made above, perhaps its not clear but a strategy for approaching the problem is structured through the questions being raised. Unlike the profile you draw of NGO I'm delighted to inform this forum that the NGO I self fund has mapped major chunks of Lahore using GIS technology, and we have worked out along with other NGOs growth and improvement strategies for the canal and for a vast chunk of the city. Unfortunately development in most people's eyes is the superficial veneer of high rises and motorways and does not include the actual quality of the habitat. To state it simply, how easy is it for anyone to use the bus rich or poor, or how many sidewalks are there in newly developed areas of the city that are actually pedestrian friendly. How many people's streets and neighbourhoods got flooded in Lahore today? Do metropolitan cities just have wide fancy roads or proper drainage as well? Good cities are cities where systems work they are not showrooms for an inventory of flyovers and underpasses.
The Canal widening project first proposed by the Government of Punjab several years ago, is now again being discussed as the only viable option to alleviate traffic congestion on the road. The road has to be widened, and widening the road will create faster and more fluid movement.At the urban design think-tank, OCCO the belief is that the road widening is a solution to the problem created by layers of short sighted planning, which simply cannot be undone. The Canal cuts through the entire city, and is a unique urban attribute inviting all to linger and lounge by the water, turning the space around it into a public space accessible by all at anytime. The observations with regards to this project are will the construction and completion of the Ring Road resolve the problem of added volume on the Canal road? How will design elements be incorporated into the project to qualitatively improve both movement and leisure activities along the Canal? Would pedestrians be able to cross the road and access the Canal once the road is widened, and how will public amenities like bus stops be incorporated? Land use patterns along the Canal need to mapped and planning done for future growth but in segments, where each segment of the Canal road project has a different planning logic, for instance (different densities, different programs and a variety of building stock). The Canal Road must not be considered as a high speed artery but as an urban asset. Broadly declared commercial zones around the road will have a negative impact on residential properties immediately behind the strip. Densification along the corridor will cause congestion in the service lanes parallel to the canal road and feed yet more traffic volume on to it. Development on the strip must not follow established trends but consider chunks of land and blocks to be planned as 3D masses.
The Canal widening project first proposed by the Government of Punjab several years ago, is now again being discussed as the only viable option to alleviate traffic congestion on the road. The road has to be widened, and widening the road will create faster and more fluid movement. OCCO believes that the road widening is a solution to the problem created by layers of short sighted planning, which simply cannot be undone. The Canal cuts through the entire city, and is a unique urban attribute inviting all to linger and lounge by the water, turning the space around it into a public space accessible by all at anytime. The observations that OCCO has with regards to the road widening are as:
Will the construction and completion of the Ring Road resolve the problem of added volume on the Canal road?
How will design elements be incorporated into the project to qualitatively improve both movement and leisure activities along the Canal?
Would pedestrians be able to cross the road and access the Canal once the road is widened, and how will public amenities like bus stops be incorporated?
Land use patterns along the Canal need to mapped and planning done for future growth but in segments, where each segment of the Canal road project has a different planning logic, for instance (different densities, different programs and a variety of building stock).
The Canal Road must not be considered as a high speed artery but as an urban asset.
Broadly declared commercial zones around the road will have a negative impact on residential properties immediately behind the strip.
Densification along the corridor will cause congestion in the service lanes parallel to the canal road and feed yet more traffic volume on to it.
Development on the strip must not follow established trends but consider chunks of land and blocks to be planned as 3D masses.
this issue of cutting trees is there for the last 10 years. Has this so called' tree lover society' planted a single tree during this period ?
Who'd give up their cars and travel in Public Transport in this country? Blegh!!..
Enough of this destruction......where have all the sparrows gone? Remember the times when the skies used to be full of hordes of sparrows going home in the evening? Remember when there used to be real jugnos (firefly) in all of Lahore and not just the parks? Remember when we could be amused by observing the now almost non existent grey squirrels leaping about?? These trees are the habitat of many living beings. Is it worth the 3 minute difference it will make in the commuting time to kill so many birds, animals and trees? I would rather have more trees and a more breathable atmosphere than have more stupid roads. Invest this money in public transport instead.
Thokar Niaz Baig and Harbanspura - it is not 3.5kms. I could believe it more if it said 35 kms but 3.5 kms is a joke!
No tree cutting ......... thats all ..... they can build a complete long expressway on both sides of kanal just above the existing road
Roads building money = purchasing of urban buses as they said, 1260 buses = 94,500 people in them at one time. 94,500 people in buses means less cars on the roads. Less cars means less teraffic on the road. Less teraffic means less carbon emmissions & EASY MOVEMENT OF PROVENCIAL ASSEMBLY PROTOCOLS.
See, the benefit goes to the rulers.......So our dumb rulers, think this way.
And also creation of 5040 direct and more then 10,000 indirect jobs related to this.
So, think again, Your safe movement, and more then 15,000 jobs in the basket.
But you won't think this way, chop down the years old trees, make beautiful solid bedroom sets and enjoy the sleep with your partners.
@Dr. Adnan: Yes Lahore is growing fast and widening roads killing trees wont work, just look at the under passes they didnt solved the problem they just DELAYED it for a couple of years perhapes. What we need is a good transport system.
all I can say is that this conservative society has nothing more of stopping the projects which are for the betterment of the people. just let us know what project of LCC have done in the past for the betterment ? how much investment they made to make this city beautiful. lol nothing they would stop everything until they get a cut of the development costs. I hate this when they are so hypocritical in their words and statements. Same thing they did with Kalma Chowk, well let KC open and then you would feel the difference in the traffic same thing is needed on Canal Bank road as well. People do face alot of trouble when coming from Thokar Niaz Baig to Harbanspura. If these LCC people have to travel on Canal Road everyday than they would never oppose it ... all they do is complain complain and complain. Grow Up will ya ... I mean how much environment you are conserving now ... do you even know that how fast lahore is growing,,,,,