• An underpass and a portion of road are built with bricks to tackle road damage due to sewage
• Experts don’t see initiative very promising, especially for motorcyclists

KARACHI: After recent construction of the Gulistan-i-Jauhar underpass with paver tiles and yet another government initiative of building a portion of Shahrah-i-Quaideen with the same rough and porous material, instead of using the conventional asphalt, in a bid to reduce cost and tackle sewage problems, has raised serious questions about road users safety and comfort on the bumpy surface built for regular traffic.

The government has recently built a portion of Shahrah-i-Quaideen with paver tiles after using the rough material for road construction in Gulistan-i-Jauhar underpass, which is 1.1 kilometre long and 18.5 metres wide.

Typically, the paver tiles are used for construction of driveways, footpaths, patios, courtyards and other outdoor areas.

However, City Mayor Barrister Murtaza Wahab said the paver tiles were used at both the places on the advice of consultants considering ‘ground realities’ and future prospects for the city.

“The city faces serious challenges like sewerage and drainage system problem,” he said.

“At some spots the problem has become so severe that it reoccurs after every few months requiring maintenance operation which includes digging of roads and then its carpeting once the operation is done. The KWSC has already taken an initiative of a modern system which may take time, so it’s a kind of stopgap arrangement till the city sewerage and drainage system is completely fixed,” the mayor said.

Secondly, he mentioned, the underpasses built in the past by different administrations had developed serious seepage problems that still remained a serious challenge for local administrations.

Damaged roads due to overflowing gutters have become a constant source of extra spending and maintenance, the mayor said and claimed that the road built by paver tiles in Gulistan-i-Jauhar underpass would address that particular problem.

“If this goes well, we will definitely go for more,” he said referring to the same structures used in developed countries.

However, experts don’t see the initiative very promising.

Muhammad Toheed, an urban planner and geographer and associate director at Karachi Urban Lab, Institute of Business Administration (IBA), questions the durability of pavers for regular traffic.

He believes that paver blocks aren’t meant to handle regular traffic as they’re mainly used on pedestrian surface or driveways meant for light vehicle movement.

He also took to social media to share his motorbike ride experience over the road of paver tiles in Gulistan-i-Jauhar.

“You would constantly feel jerks while riding over this paver road. A large number of people in our city ride motorbike with women, children and other elderly people as pillion riders. Apart from unfit for heavy or regular traffic, the paver tiles pose serious danger to bike riders as well,” he said.

Dr Noman Ahmed, head of department of architecture and planning of the NED University of Engineering Technology agrees that the paver tiles do not offer any comfortable travelling experience.

Secondly, high friction on paver roads ultimately slows down the movement of traffic, he added.

“When the vehicles movement would slow down in the rush hour it will lead to traffic congestion. Secondly we don’t know yet how effective are these pavers in terms of interlocking,” he said.

Since the paver tiles are new experiment for road construction, he believes that authorities should go for a third party evaluation to establish an expert opinion about the durability of the structure and its future prospects.

“It’s a new experience here so I think an evaluation should be carried by independent experts. It would help understand future prospects for using the material for road construction,” he added.

Published in Dawn, October 9th, 2023