PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government on Tuesday formed a committee headed by finance minister Taimur Saleem Jhagra to develop a ‘comprehensive and workable’ plan to resolve traffic-related issues of the provincial capital.

The development came during a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Mahmood Khan about traffic management in Peshawar.

The meeting was also attended by finance minister Taimur Jhagra, special assistant to the chief minister for information Kamran Khan Bangash, director general of the Peshawar Development Authority Ammara Khan, capital city police officer Abbas Ahsan, commissioner of Peshawar Riaz Khan Mehsud, and other relevant officials.

According to an official statement issued here, the committee comprising Kamran Bangash, Peshawar commissioner, chief traffic officer and relevant officials was given 15 days to present a report on the matter after consulting all stakeholders.

CM orders launch of drive for traffic rules awareness

The traffic management plan will consist of both long-term and short-term measures to ensure smooth flow of traffic in the capital city.

A number of factors causing traffic congestion in the city were identified in the meeting, which thoroughly discussed options to address them.

It was pointed out in the meeting that besides other factors, plazas without proper parking arrangements in commercial areas and bottlenecks on certain points of roads in the city were also the main causes of hurdle to the smooth flow of vehicular traffic.

The meeting decided to serve notices on the owners of plazas without parking facilities for making proper arrangements of parking in basements or adjacent places within one month, and directed the relevant quarters to take action against those not complying with the rules.

The details available with Dawn show that the district administration has identified 74 traffic congestion points throughout the city with the most i.e. 27 being in Zone F, including the area bound by Ring Road and Kohat Road.

The authorities identified 15 such points in Zone A falling between Northern Bypass and Charsadda Road on the southern side of the GT Road.

The documents show that currently communication and works department was working on Rs211 million project to ease traffic congestion in Zone F, while 89 per cent of the work has been completed.

Also, a Rs122 million PC-I for Zone A has pending with the local government and rural development department and the PDA is executing a Rs83 million project to resolve traffic issues in Zone D.

The documents also showed that the district administration had resolved land issues of Package II and III of Peshawar Northern Bypass with ‘heavy savings’ and that though progress was made on the land in Package III-B of the Northern Bypass from Nasir Bagh to Takhta Baig checkpost of Jamrud tehsil of Khyber district, there was no contractor.

The relevant quarters were directed to devise a plan to remove bottlenecks on roads to ensure smooth flow of traffic.

The chief minister stressed the need for public awareness for the implementation of traffic rules and directed the relevant concerned to launch a mass awareness campaign for one month regarding the use of helmet and seat belts with special focus on measures to prevent the reckless use of motorbikes by minors and unlicensed riders. He ordered action against such lawbreakers.

Mr Mahmood directed the relevant quarters to take steps to strengthen traffic police and enhance their capacity to effectively deal with the emerging traffic issues in the city.

Published in Dawn, October 13th, 2021