In absence of a mass transit system and with growing numbers of vehicles, Karachi is only five years from a complete traffic disaster, experts have warned, a private TV channel reported.
NED University of Engineering and Technology Saturday held a workshop on Karachi’s traffic woes to find sustainable solutions for the problem. Vice-Chancellor Sarosh Lodhi revealed how the problem could be as simple as making the right shampoo buying choice. Engineers, architects, professors and traffic experts attended the workshop. The keynote speakers included NED Vice-Chancellor Dr Sarosh Hasmat Lodhi, Prof Dr Mir Shabbar Ali, Engr Sohail Bashir, Engr Ashar Lodhi, Dr Afzal Ahmed, and NED Urban Engineering Department Chairman Prof Dr Adnan Qadir.
Dr Lodhi stressed the need to implement a proper mechanism for streamlining the traffic issues. He started with some basic examples of how Karachi traffic had transformed in the past 25 years. Back in the 1970s and 1980s, there were taxis, rickshaws, tram service and circular railways for public transport needs in Karachi.
A regulatory body worked with transporters, inspected the vehicles, and issued fitness certificates on regular basis. Taxis and rickshaws could not operate without mileage meters and passengers only paid the fixed per kilometre fare. But then the regulatory body evaporated and the mileage meters disappeared from taxis and rickshaws. “Tram service has been replaced by small Qingqi rickshaws – this is the story of Karachi traffic,” Lodhi said. And then to explain the problem, he used the analogy of shampoo buying choice: You could either buy a bottle costing Rs800 or purchase a sachet spending only Rs10. The Rs10 sachet is a quick fix but not a permanent solution. The same goes for the rising number of motorcycles in Karachi. They solve transportation problems for a person temporarily, but in the long run, the city needs a mass transit system – a bottle of shampoo.
People would spend Rs100 on petrol a day rather than invest Rs150 in the mass transit system. “But that has a direct impact on petroleum import bill,” Dr Lodhi said. He said people are the biggest element missing in the improvement of traffic. “We are responsible for deteriorating traffic situation in Karachi.” The NED vice-chancellor warned that the Karachi traffic system is going to collapse in the next five years if comprehensive measures are not taken to change the situation.
NED Urban Engineering Department Chairman Dr Adnan Qadir said every individual who comes in this world brings their transport needs with them, from their journey home from the hospital where they are born to their journey to the graveyard when they die.