Experimental endeavours : ‘Blue Road’ trial receives mixed reviews

In its pursuit to imitate the urbanisation standards of the developed world, the Punjab government’s attempt at beautifying and cooling the city, through the “Blue Road” pilot project, has sparked widespread criticism.

Recently, the Punjab Central Business District (CBD) announced the inauguration of the ‘Blue Road’ test project at the Kalma Chowk underpass in Lahore, which involved mixing a blue dye in the black bitumen used for road construction. Since the colour black absorbs the most heat out of all the colours, it was proposed that switching to a lighter colour might decrease the absorbance of heat into the road and would create a cooling effect during the scorching summer heat.

According to the civil engineers involved in the construction of the nascent initiative, the “Blue Road” would supposedly reduce the level of heat in the surrounding area by up to 50 per cent, or 10 degree Celsius during the summer months.

The project despite its big claims at abating the severe repercussions of the impending heat wave, has received a lukewarm response from environmentalists and citizens, who question the authenticity of the CBS’s affirmation and believe that the project is nothing more than an optical illusion. “If blue roads were so effective in bringing down temperatures, how come no private construction company has utilised them in their projects,” challenged Ambreen Fatima, a student of environmental management at the Government College University.

Where some like Ambreen call into question the effectiveness of the project in levelling out the heat spike, others criticised the government for causing unnecessary destruction to the environment for a purely experimental endeavour.

“Billions worth of cement and gravel were carelessly used to construct just 213 metres of the Blue Road at the Kalma Chowk,” lamented an activist and attorney from the Lahore Bachao Tehreek, who further added that, “tree plantation would have been a considerably cheaper and foolproof method to control shooting temperatures.”

However, Muhammad Asif Iqbal, Director of Project Management at CBD, takes issue with the criticism posed by environmentalists since he believes that the project has the capacity to achieve a greater purpose of modernising the city’s landscape, bringing it at par with international standards. “Countries like Qatar have already introduced blue roads in order to beautify their public spaces alongside promoting a cooler environment,” asserted Iqbal. Where Aleem Butt, an ecologist agrees with Iqbal on the cooling capacity of blue roads, he feels that a single, barely 200-metre-long patch of the “Blue Road” would be insufficient for bringing about any significant reduction in the city’s heat levels.

“Until or unless an entire road is turned blue, one cannot determine the true efficacy of the project,” shrugged Butt.

Nonetheless, the idea of expanding the blue road test project does not sit well with citizens like Maheen Aamir, who remind the authorities of the regrettable state of the country’s economy, which cannot withstand such superfluous expenditures.

“How can our national budget accommodate the expansion of such an expensive project when a paucity of funding has left even the existing infrastructure in dire straits,” scoffed Aamir, while speaking to The Express Tribune.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 29^th, 2023.