Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Motorists and commuters travelling on Peshawar-Islamabad Motorway (M-1) have demanded early restoration of electronic toll collection system (e-tag).

The frequent travellers on the Motorway said that e-tag system was the best way to avoid long queues at the NHA interchanges, but it has been closed on the M-1. Tasawwar Shah, a motorist who travels almost daily from Attock to Islamabad to perform his duties told APP on Sunday that after the closure of the e-tag lane at Burhan interchange toll plaza he had to wait in long queues at the manual lanes causing loss of precious time at exit of the motorway.

He also said that with the separation of toll plazas of M-1 and Islamabad-Lahore Motorway at Islamabad, long queues have become a matter of routine as the old plaza had 12 booths at the exit while the new plaza has only six, that too lined in haphazard manner. He said that now he has to leave his home at least 30 minutes ahead of time to reach office in time, otherwise he gets late.

Bilal, a commuter who comes from Kamra, district Attock, every day said that in the past catching a van coming to Islamabad via motorway was the best option to reach office in time, but now sometimes coming by motorway costs more time than the Grand Trunk Road (N-5).

He appealed to the National Highway Authority to take remedial measures to save the commuters, especially employees of various organisations from the agony of late arrival at the offices. Tahir Khan, a driver of a commuter van which plies on Peshawar-Rawalpindi route said that altercations with the passengers over delays have become a matter of routine, but he cannot help it as long queues at Islamabad exit of M-1 mar the journey from Attack to Islamabad.

When contacted, an official of NHA said that the e-tag system was suspended on the M-1 due to some technical problems, but it would become operational soon as the required software has been developed. To a question, he said that as the M-1 was handed over to Frontier Works Organisation (FWO) for 20 years for its recarpeting and renovation on Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) basis, it had become difficult to manage toll collection through single electronic tag system.

To meet this requirement, the FWO introduced M-tag system on M-2, while e-tag system on the M-1 had to be suspended as the old Islamabad toll plaza was in possession of the FWO. He also said that design of a new toll plaza has been approved for the exit of M-1 and hopefully it would be constructed within a few months.

He said that the new toll plaza would be replica of the newly built toll plaza at start of Islamabad-Lahore Motorway which has multiple both to accommodate maximum number of vehicles and avoid long queues.