KARACHI, Sept 6: The City District Government Karachi (CDGK) has most likely put into cold storage a plan conceived by the defunct KDA for widening of Sharea Faisal despite regular traffic jams occurring at several points on the city’s most important thoroughfare.

Presently it is a three-lane road on each track, but with the addition of another lane, and completion of service roads, traffic flow would have further improved, sources said.

At present service lanes are available from the Metropole roundabout to the Karsaz intersection on both sides, which were built at the time of a previous extension of the road, but as the KDA fell short of funds, it could not complete the project.

Although situation has improved with the construction of three flyovers, but still during peak hours, the road is overcrowded and traffic jams are a daily routine at some points between Sindhi Muslim Society and Baloch Colony as queues of vehicles can be seen on the road.

The agony of the motorists and other road users is compounded when the traffic police personnel detains buses and other vehicles for traffic violations, causing congestion and leading to traffic jams.

Various proposals are being submitted for beautification of Sharea Faisal, but no effort is being made to widen the road and improve the traffic flow. Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad had recently ordered steps for beautification of Sharea Faisal, and work is continuing on the replacement of footpath curb stones.

At present, the land departments of the three services are in possession of land along Sharea Faisal. Moreover, a number of private concerns have extended their businesses illegally which amounts to literally grabbing the space available for the road.

Experts say if land is got vacated from encroachers, the project of extension of Sharea Faisal could be easily implemented any time. Furthermore, if at present work is not started on Sharea Faisal the entire land would be usurped by land grabbers.

The project envisages completion of service lanes on both sides of Sharea Faisal from Karsaz up to Quaidabad or Pakistan Steel.

Sources said that the volume of traffic has increased on Sharea Faisal manifold during the last 10 years, and with frequent VVIP movements, the citizens suffer owing to haphazard diversions and manual operation of signals.

There are also complaints that most of the vehicles use the express lane which is only meant for fast moving vehicles, ambulances, fire tenders etc, but the traffic police, do nothing except announcements in the media about campaigns against the violators.