Simultaneous uplift projects adding to people’s sufferings

[Salman]

Simultaneous uplift projects adding to people’s sufferings


LAHORE: Various government departments have dug up roads across the metropolis under ill-planned simultaneous development projects, which have been resulting in traffic chaos and immense hardships to motorists and commuters for the last few months.
Poor planning and lack of coordination among different government departments is evident from the fact that a number of uplift projects are yet to complete, even after expiry of their deadlines, and parallel new projects have been launched. The delay in the previous projects and the beginning of new projects at the same time has resulted in frequent traffic jams, dust and smoke on most of the city’s major roads and intersections.
Daily Times has learnt that due to the ongoing development work, major arteries and busy roads have either been dug up or portions of those roads have been closed without proper alternative arrangements for traffic.
The city government, the Lahore Development Authority and the Traffic Engineering and Transport Planning Agency (TEPA), along with other departments, have been carrying out various projects in the city through approved contractors for the last few months.
These projects include construction of the Bus Rapid Transit System and the Muslim Town Mor Flyover on Ferozepur Road, improvement and widening of Multan Road between Scheme Mor and Chauburji, improvement of the Model Town Link Road, modification of the Canal Road, construction and repair of Queen’s Road, improvement of Shalimar Link Road, Abul Hasan Isfahani Road from Faisal Town Roundabout to Akbar Chowk, Naulakha police station to Ik Moria Pul, Begum Kot to Ravi Pul via Farrukhabad and Link Road Shahdara Town, and repair of Davis Road, Lytton Road and Allama Iqbal Road in Garhi Shahu.
Daily Times has learnt that most of the uplift projects have not been completed within the stipulated period. The city government had fixed February 10 as the deadline for the completion of development work on 20 model roads, but the work on most of the roads is still underway. The government also directed all heads of town municipal administrations to get all the ongoing development projects completed by March 31.
According to the first deadline, the Bus Rapid Transit System project on Ferozepur Road (from Kalma Chowk to Gajju Matta) should be completed on April 1, but keeping in view the pace of work, this project will take more time.
Talking to Daily Times, TEPA BRT Project Director Mazhar Hussain Khan said that in the first phase, the BRT from Gajju Matta to Kalma Chowk would be completed in four months, while the BRT from Kalma Chowk to Shahdara would be executed by end of this year.
While these parallel projects have converted the city’s already-scarred surface into a deplorable eyesore, hapless citizens have no other option but to count the days.
“It seems as if the government has been sleeping for the last four years and now it wants to complete all the development work in the city in a few months. This is an example of poor planning by the government,” said a citizen, Malik Israr.
He added that the dug-up roads and dust had uglified the city, adding to the sufferings of motorists and pedestrians.