ISLAMABAD: Work on the metro bus project has come as a blessing in disguise for auto mechanics of the twin cities, with road conditions routinely damaging vehicles.

Of course motorists are responsible for bearing the cost of getting their vehicles repaired with no one in the authorities taking responsibility for the mounting inconvenience caused by the project.

Most main roads in the twin cities are littered with potholes and bumps as well as debris from the construction sites. “Strange cracking noises come from the doors of my car. I’ve never experienced this before the roads got bad,” said Ali Shah, as he got his car repaired at a workshop in sector I-9.

“With so many roads closed there is also additional traffic on every road. Since getting anywhere takes so long, driving slow is not an option,” he added.

Amjad Hassan, who is a mechanic in I-9, said his customers are never happy these days and think that he has not done a satisfactory job “They don’t understand that it’s the condition of the roads taking a toll on vehicles” he said.

Debris from construction sites destroying roads, damaging vehicles

“There is no escaping the deteriorating road conditions and we have to use these roads daily,” said Mariam, a school teacher. The metro bus route passes along I.J. Principal Road from Faizabad to 9th Avenue and at the 9th Avenue up to G-9 sector and from there towards Jinnah Avenue and ending at Constitution Avenue.

Officials in the Capital Development Authority (CDA) said the contractors of metro bus project should be regularly maintaining the roads.

“We have regularly pointed out that the condition of service roads of 9th Avenue, I.J. Principal Road and the Constitution Avenue has gone from bad to worse and repairs are needed,” said an official of the CDA’s engineering wing.

“The problem is that we can only register a complaint with the Rawalpindi Development Authority as they are the project execution agency,” he added.

However RDA appears to be more interested in responding to authorities in Lahore than to CDA and after repeated requests, the authority finally decided to repair the Constitution Avenue.

“Temporary repair work has been completed by CDA, but the contractor will redo the whole road after the work on metro bus is completed,” said member engineering Shahid Sohail.

He added that the cost of the repair work has been billed to the RDA for reimbursement.

The RDA maintains that the problems are temporary and the issue will be resolved by the end of January 2015 when the metro bus project is complete.

However, the CDA’s efforts to resolve the problem has been limited to the VIP route along the Constitution Avenue and not much has been done for those who wish to cross Kashmir Highway to enter G-9 or G-10 sectors. Similarly road conditions at the crossing from G-9 to G-8 sector are deplorable.

The sufferings of those travelling around Peshawar Mor are not likely to end soon as the interchange will not even be completed by January 2015.

Published in Dawn, November 18th, 2014