Line and lane: Road transport dept to be revived
Lack of coordination among departments cited as a hurdle.
LAHORE:
The government is planning to revive the dormant Road Transport Department (RTD) to ensure efficient management of roads and traffic across the Punjab The Express Tribune has learnt.
An official from a committee constituted by Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif to suggest reforms said the initiative was being taken to overcome bureaucratic hurdles impeding efficient road and traffic management. He said this was the consequence of eight departments being tasked with managing the sector.
Officials said the chief minister’s Special Monitoring Unit (SMU) had conceived the idea and a special committee being headed by Adviser to Chief Minister Rana Maqbool had taken officials from the CM’s SMU, the traffic police, the city government, the Traffic Engineering and Transport Planning Agency (TEPA), the Parks and Horticulture Authority (PHA) and the Transport Department into confidence regarding the proposal.
They said the officials had informed committee members that the Road Transport Department (RTD) charged with overseeing the task had been lying dormant. The officials said the department was composed of officials from the PHA, the Tepa, the Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA), the DCO and the CTO.
They said the officials had been unable to attend to the RTD due to other commitments.
The officials said a suggestion to revive the department by posting officials from concerned departments there had been proposed during the meeting.
They said the SMU had suggested changes to the laws governing the RTD and the addition of Lahore Parking Company officials to the department for identifying authorised parking spaces in the city and removing illegal parking slots. They said a comprehensive plan had been finalised in this regard and awaited the chief minister’s approval.
The officials said the department would be tasked with road and traffic management province-wide.
They said no other department would be authorised to make changes to roads without its approval. The officials said representatives of the concerned departments would collectively review paperwork to enable the swift execution of plans.
CTO Tayyab Hafeez Cheema said even a proposal to get a traffic signal installed usually got mired in bureaucratic hurdles as proposals had to be processed by various departments.
He said the responsibility for facilitating smooth flow of traffic did not rest solely with the traffic police. Cheema welcomed the proposal to revive the RTD saying it would result in the speedy implementation of plans to improve traffic management.
Speaking to The Express Tribune Salman Sufi of the chief minister’s SMU said there was no mechanism currently to facilitate the quick approval and implementation of traffic and road management plans. He said this was due to lack of effective coordination among the concerned departments. Sufi said a revamped RTD would help overcome the challenge.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 12th, 2014.
The government is planning to revive the dormant Road Transport Department (RTD) to ensure efficient management of roads and traffic across the Punjab The Express Tribune has learnt.
An official from a committee constituted by Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif to suggest reforms said the initiative was being taken to overcome bureaucratic hurdles impeding efficient road and traffic management. He said this was the consequence of eight departments being tasked with managing the sector.
Officials said the chief minister’s Special Monitoring Unit (SMU) had conceived the idea and a special committee being headed by Adviser to Chief Minister Rana Maqbool had taken officials from the CM’s SMU, the traffic police, the city government, the Traffic Engineering and Transport Planning Agency (TEPA), the Parks and Horticulture Authority (PHA) and the Transport Department into confidence regarding the proposal.
They said the officials had informed committee members that the Road Transport Department (RTD) charged with overseeing the task had been lying dormant. The officials said the department was composed of officials from the PHA, the Tepa, the Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA), the DCO and the CTO.
They said the officials had been unable to attend to the RTD due to other commitments.
The officials said a suggestion to revive the department by posting officials from concerned departments there had been proposed during the meeting.
They said the SMU had suggested changes to the laws governing the RTD and the addition of Lahore Parking Company officials to the department for identifying authorised parking spaces in the city and removing illegal parking slots. They said a comprehensive plan had been finalised in this regard and awaited the chief minister’s approval.
The officials said the department would be tasked with road and traffic management province-wide.
They said no other department would be authorised to make changes to roads without its approval. The officials said representatives of the concerned departments would collectively review paperwork to enable the swift execution of plans.
CTO Tayyab Hafeez Cheema said even a proposal to get a traffic signal installed usually got mired in bureaucratic hurdles as proposals had to be processed by various departments.
He said the responsibility for facilitating smooth flow of traffic did not rest solely with the traffic police. Cheema welcomed the proposal to revive the RTD saying it would result in the speedy implementation of plans to improve traffic management.
Speaking to The Express Tribune Salman Sufi of the chief minister’s SMU said there was no mechanism currently to facilitate the quick approval and implementation of traffic and road management plans. He said this was due to lack of effective coordination among the concerned departments. Sufi said a revamped RTD would help overcome the challenge.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 12th, 2014.