March 25, 2007	Sunday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 5, 1428

PESHAWAR, March 24: The City Development and Municipal Department (CD&MD) has failed to check growing encroachments along the Ring Road in Peshawar.

The southern section of the road — from GT Road to Hayatabad — has turned into a dryport where hundreds of trucks are loaded and unloaded daily. “It seems to be a huge container port,” residents said.

The Ring Road was constructed mainly to reduce traffic congestion on city roads by diverting the vehicles entering the city. However, the growing movement of such heavy vehicular traffic has turned the road into a permanent nuisance for commuters.

The CD&MD, being the supervising authority to look after the maintenance of the road, has failed to check the encroachments.

Over the last couple of years, dozens of workshops were opened on both sides of the GT Road-Hayatabad section of the Ring Road where hundreds of vehicles are brought daily for maintenance.

“Movement of heavy vehicles on such a small road often causes traffic jams that add to miseries of commuters who opt for the Ring Road just to avoid traffic jams on the GT Road passing through the city,” a resident of Hayatabad Township told Dawn.

Dozens of terminals for loading and unloading huge containers have also appeared on both sides of the road where hundreds of trucks come daily from various places.

The movement of heavily-loaded trucks has badly damaged the road as small and big potholes and cracks have appeared on this portion of the road which was originally constructed for light traffic.

According to officials, the owners of truck stands did not pay tax for using the city infrastructure, while the CD&MD turned a blind eye to the issue.

It may be mentioned that the Provincial Development Working Party (PDWP) at a meeting on Nov 25 last year had taken notice of the increasing encroachments along the Ring Road. It had directed the CD&MD to establish the Right of Way, ensure removal of encroachments and check the ongoing unlawful activities to avoid further aggravation of the problem.

But the situation on ground was getting worse and the flow of heavy traffic was increasing with each passing day, the locals said.

CD&MD director-general Sareer Khan told Dawn that the agency had established Right of Way and was taking action on regular basis whenever it came to know about any encroachment taking place on the Ring Road.

He conceded that the owners of terminals did not pay any tax for using the road which was not meant for heavy traffic.

“Keeping the road in good condition can be ensured if the government imposes a tax on the commercial business going on in the area,” the DG added.