RAWALPINDI: Since launching the Metro Bus Project, the Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) has failed to restart the Rs32 million Urban Traffic Control System (UTCS) on Murree Road.

The RDA began the UTCS in 2011, from Marrir Chowk to Faizabad, while installing the Sydney Coordinated Adaptive Traffic System (Scats). This system allows traffic signals to turn ‘red’ or ‘green’ according to the volume of traffic using sensors.

CCTV cameras and sensors were installed on Murree Road at Liaquat Bagh, Committee Chowk, Shamsabad, Naz Cinema and Saidpur Road. Traffic at main intersections was being controlled using a computerised system, in collaboration with the Rawalpindi Traffic Police.

However, the system was halted after construction began on the metro bus on Murree Road on Mar 23, 2014. Despite the fact that work has since been completed and the public transport service launched, the UTCS remains suspended.

A senior RDA official told Dawn that an Australian firm was hired to provide equipment and install the software in the RDA offices. He said that in the following phase, the system was supposed to be installed on other roads as well.

He said the RDA was still busy completing the metro bus project, since the command and control building is not yet operational, and repairs on Murree Road and the metro bus elevated road are still in progress.

He said the UTCS was installed to improve the flow of traffic on Murree Road. The official said the UTCS was used to coordinate traffic signals, usually through a centrally located computer.

When contacted, RDA spokesperson Mohammad Irfan said the system was in working condition and confirmed that it had been installed on Murree Road. However, he said the traffic wardens kept the system operational even during the construction on the metro bus project.

The city traffic officer (CTO), Shoaib Khurram Janbaz, meanwhile, told Dawn he was not aware of any system on Murree Road. “I have never heard or seen the system in the last two years, and traffic on Murree Road is being controlled manually by traffic wardens,” he said.

He said traffic police personnel worked day and night to control traffic during the time when construction on the Metro Bus Project was ongoing, and additional wardens were deployed at sections of Murree Road to control traffic manually.

He said the RDA should inform the traffic police of the presence of the system if it is in place, adding that the system would be utilised effectively if it was brought to the traffic police’s notice.

Published in Dawn, April 13th, 2016