Load management: Road works and special events cause traffic chaos

A combination of major road works and an influx of students for the Punjab Youth Festival and political workers for a Pakistan People’s Party rally resulted in traffic jams across the city on Monday.

For several weeks, large sections of Ferozepur Road, Lower Mall and Ravi Road have been blocked for the construction of the Bus Rapid Transit System, while the expansion of Multan Road is also currently underway, resulting in frequent jams at alternative routes.

On Monday, the traffic situation was even worse as thousands of students were bussed into Gaddafi Stadium for the Youth Festival, while thousands also arrived for a rally in support of newly appointed PPP Punjab President Mian Manzoor Wattoo from the airport to The Mall.

Chief Traffic Officer Captain (retired) Sohail Khan said that the closure of routes for construction work and the two major events in the city had resulted in major traffic problems on Gulberg’s Main Boulevard and Canal Bank Road.

And he warned that things will get worse over the coming days as contractors rush to finish work on the BRTS to meet the chief minister’s deadline of November 20. On Sunday, the chief minister ordered that trucks carrying construction material also travel during the daytime.

Captain (r) Khan said that 22-wheelers escorted by traffic wardens on motorbikes would be moving girders to the BRTS construction site. He said 24 wardens had been assigned to escort the trucks and clear a path for them through traffic. Sections of the road where the girders are being installed would be cordoned off, which would result in additional delays.

He urged commuters not to use the roads unless necessary, especially during rush hour. He also appealed for patience. “Yes there is inconvenience owing to the construction work, but as soon as the project is complete, the people will see its benefits,” he said.

Nov 20 deadline for BRTS Completion

November 20th has been set as deadline for the completion of major infrastructure for the Metro Bus Service, including an eight-kilometre elevated track and a bus depot, though the contractors say it will likely take a few weeks longer.

Once the major work is complete, test runs of the bus service will be conducted for around a month, during which time anyone can ride the buses for free. Officials working on the project said they were hopeful that the first bus would run by December. Forty five articulated buses for the MBS are due to arrive in Karachi from Sweden on November 26, and in Lahore around a week later.

There are seven principal contractors for the MBS – the National Logistics Cell, MAAK sons, Habib Construction Services, ZKB, IKAN and SKB/Albarak (a joint venture by the two companies.

“We are utilising all our resources. Some 5,000 people are working on the MBS right now,” an official at one of the companies said. “They are working at full speed. Even if they continue at this pace, it will be another 15 to 20 days (after Nov 15) before the work is finished.”

Officials said that during his tour of the worksite on Sunday, the chief minister initially proposed a deadline of November 15. The contractors protested, but he only gave them five more days.

The cost of the building the 27.3km MBS, running from Gajju Mata to Shahdara Chowk, mainly along Ferozepur Road, has surged to around Rs31 billion. It includes an eight-km bus-only elevated track from New Muslim Town to Bhati Chowk. Officials said that the project may later be extended in both directions so the bus runs from Kahna to Shahdara Railway Station, a distance of some 32km.

Officials said that some plans for the MBS had been postponed. A bridge for the MBS on over the Ravi had been proposed earlier, but it won’t be built before the service becomes operational. The National Engineering Services of Pakistan (Nespak) is currently making terms of reference for the project.

Officials said there was some concern that the MBS articulated buses would be held up at the Old Ravi Bridge alongside normal traffic. They said that they were considering the possibility of running some MBS buses on shortened routes terminating at Bhati.

Ansar Butt, a deputy director at the Traffic Engineering and Transport Planning Agency (Tepa) who is working on the MBS project, said that they were working around the clock to try and meet the chief minister’s deadline. He said that some 1,200 workers were engaged in the 3.5km stretch of the project he was responsible for.

Butt said that non-Muslim staff would continue to work on the project during the Eid holidays, doing small works like compaction and sanitation. The Muslim labourers would get three days off.

He said that a bus depot was being built at Nishter, a u-turn at Hadiara and figure-8 turns at MAO College and Bhati Gate. He said that a depot was to be built at Shahdara, but that idea had been postponed for now. He said that the figue-8 turn at MAO College would be useful if the government went ahead with plans to build MBS routes on Multan Road and Canal Bank Road. He said that a German contractor would soon start installing escalators for some MBS terminals.

Lahore Transport Company General Manager Uzair Shah said that once the contractors finish the major infrastructure, the buses would be sent on test runs and the e-ticketing systems, screen doors at terminals, escalators and generators would be tested. He said that for the first four weeks, anyone could ride the buses for free.

He said that a company had been contracted for cleaning, while another would be contracted for security. He said that a proposal to establish a security staff for the MBS had been dropped.

Shah said that work on the Intelligent Transport System project would begin soon. Monday is the deadline for submission of bids for the project tender. Under the ITS project, the junctions along the route of the MBS would be modernised to include smart traffic lights and surveillance cameras.

Planning and development: Rs3.1 billion funding approved for rapid bus

The Provincial Development Working Party has approved funding for six development schemes for the Punjab, including Rs3,156.632 million for the Metro Bus Service. The money will be spent on building escalators and platform screen doors at bus stops, according to the title of the project.

The PDWP also approved funding of Rs4,459.021 million for the other five projects at its 15th meeting of the fiscal year, presided over by Planning and Development Board Chairman Javaid Aslam.

These schemes include a project for the rehabilitation of the 41.8km Gujranwala-Hafizabad road at a cost of Rs1,772.092 million; the widening and improvement of the 33.07km Qaziabad MM Road to Nawan Kot in Layyah district at a cost of Rs403.399 million; the widening and improvement of the Khushab-Muzaffargarh road (the 83.82km section from the Jhang district boundary to Muzaffargarh) at a cost of Rs2,263.785 million; a feasibility study and design review (PC-II) for the Leh Expressway in Rawalpindi at a cost of Rs14.745 million; and a feasibility study and planning and design review (PC-II) for a waste water treatment plant at Awan Chowk in Gujranwala at a cost of Rs5 million.

Planning and Development Secretary Arif Anwar Baloch also attended the meetin

Metro starts running in Makkah

Bus route to UK planned

MUZAFFARABAD, Sept 27: Authorities in Pakistan are planning to launch a bus route from the Azad Kashmir town of Mirpur to the British city of Birmingham — 8,000 kilometres away.
The mammoth journey would take travellers through some of the most dangerous areas of Pakistan on their way to Iran, Turkey and Europe before reaching the Midlands city after around eight days, officials said.  Tahir Khokhar, the transport minister of Azad Kashmir, said the fare would be around Rs20,000.