Lahore: Gulberg Town turns to concrete for road construction, repair

[Naveed Yaseen]

* Damaged sewer system main cause of damage to roads

By Afnan Khan
LAHORE: Gulberg Town authorities have decided to use alternative material such as concrete for road construction and repair in order to protect roads from rain and drain water damage during the Monsoon season. Experts found the stagnant water on roads to be the major cause of their premature wear and tear.

The town office told Daily Times that more than 83 roads and streets in the town were scheduled for repair work next year and some would need to be repaired again within a year. Authorities will consider the state of sewage facilities before deciding on the type of material to be used in repairing damaged roads or constructing new ones. It was also learnt that the authorities have decided to build concrete roads at places known to have damaged sewerage systems. They have already successfully experimented with concrete roads at a few localities and would be doing so in others.

Town officials said that the road inspectors had conducted a survey of the town and had found damaged roads in the areas linked with Ghalib Market, MM Alam Road, Main Market and Garhi Shahu. Roads linked with Kot Lakhpat are among the worst affected.

Sewer system: “Most of the problems are caused by damaged sewerage pipes and blocked drains which cause water to flow on to the roads and stay there for days during the rainy season. This also results in permanent blockage sometimes. It is the responsibility of the Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA) to take care of these problems but they have failed to do so, resulting in the destruction of new roads and wasting a large amount of the public money,” the official explained. He said that the sewerage system of a significant part of the town needed to be replaced immediately.

“The authorities should pinpoint and fix all the problems together under a proper plan, rather than fixing one problem and creating numerous others. Building roads and digging them again is a bad idea and causes a lot of inconvenience to the public,” the official suggested. Gulberg Town Town Officer (Roads and Streets) Mian Mehboob Saqib confirmed that town authorities would be using concrete on smaller roads to prevent damage from drain water.

He said that the town administration had successfully experimented building concrete roads adjacent to Main Market and near the Gulberg telephone exchange and had succeeded in keeping them intact for a longer period of time. Saqib said that the road inspectors had already submitted a report with the authorities and had included funds for most of the development schemes in next year’s budget.

He added that the town authorities were in contact with the WASA for maintenance of the roads but sometimes it became difficult for them to provide immediate relief due to the poor sewerage system. He said that the town had pointed out a number of places especially in Kot Lakhpat where they would build concrete roads instead of the traditional carpeted roads.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp...008_pg13_1