Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The Capital Development Authority (CDA) has failed to convene even a single meeting of a preannounced committee comprising the representatives of the Authority and the Islamabad Traffic Police by the Chairman CDA, Shakih Ansar Aziz, since its announcement some two months back.

The federal capital, which is being considered a well-planned city in the country, is lacking the attention of city managers, as they are continuously overlooking several problems regarding traffic infrastructure i.e. faulty traffic signals, misleading signboards and dangerous U-turns due to a lack of fish bellies.

Shaikh Ansar Aziz is not the first one, who announced to revamp, reorganise, modernise and improve the existing traffic management system of the capital city, but similar announcements were also made by his predecessors Maroof Afzal, Imtiaz Inayat Elahi and many others.

Around two months ago, the Mayor of Islamabad and the Chairman of the CDA, Shaikh Ansar Aziz had announced to form a committee to resolve the

traffic management problems by improving the existing traffic infrastructure with the mutual understanding and efforts of both the CDA and the ITP.

Unfortunately, following the prevailing policy of “announce and forget”, the civic body has failed to convene even a single meeting on this subject while the traffic police has also shifted its burden on the CDA by communicating a report based on the survey conducted by the ITP.

The report of the traffic police identified that 20 traffic signals in different parts of the capital are out of order and need to be repaired. The signals are installed in the areas of Aabpara, Margalla, Shalimar, I- series, Shahzad Town and Barakahu, which are the busiest areas of the city. The traffic police identified 16 U-turns which need to be permanently blocked as they were creating hurdles in the smooth flow of traffic. These

U-turns are located in Blue Area, G-9, Kashmir Highway, IJP Road and the Express Highway. The audit found that there are few fish belly U-turns in Islamabad and motorists had to take sharp U-turns. It highlights the need for converting at least 13 of the U-turns into fish bellies in order to ensure the smooth and safe traffic flow.

The ITP has proposed the construction of zebra crossings at 37 points on various roads, including at the Radio Pakistan Chowk, near the Saudi Pak Tower, Aabpara, Melody and near the Poly Clinic.

The report highlights the shortage of bus bays and proposes the establishment of over 30 bus bays at some of the busier bus stops.

The report also proposed 27 cat eyes sites with thrashers, pointed out 11 car parking sites, 13 flyovers and overhead bridges sites, 25 sites for line making whereas it has also identified 43 roads and roundabouts which need repairing.

The Senior Superintendent of Islamabad Traffic Police, Malik Matloob, while talking to Daily Times said: “We have communicated the report of our audit regarding shortcomings in the traffic management system to the civic authority, which is a comprehensive document.”

He said further: “Now it is the duty of the CDA to adopt a policy while keeping in view the findings of our recommendations.”

A spokesperson of the CDA, Malik Saleem Akhtar, while responding to the issue has informed that the Authority was fully committed to provide a flawless traffic management system to the city. He added: “The Authority is working 24/7 for the well-being of citizens and we had already figured out the problems identified by the traffic police and soon these will be fixed by the Authority.”

He also said: “Our relevant officers are in contact with the traffic police officers and a meeting in this regard would be held in the coming days.