The politics of underpasses

Neighbouring city, Rawalpindi, is quickly getting a new face. The first of four proposed underpasses along Murree Road was opened to traffic recently during Eid, narrowly meeting the much hyped claim of completing the Committee Chowk underpass within 90 days, a la the zeal with which the underpasses in Lahore were completed.

But rather than being a feature to boast about, the barely completed underpass has only earned criticisms from the public so far. Workmanship is already not a strong point in our construction industry, and this has suffered even further because of the frenzied 90-days deadline.

The tiles lined on the walls of Committee Chowk underpass started coming off as soon as the bridge was opened to traffic, and the plaster on the traffic signal posts also started falling off from day one.

Many a motorist mumble a quick prayer every time they pass through the underpass, fearing that the whole structure might come tumbling down on them one day. Motorists' fears have not only been prompted by the quality of workmanship, but also by the sheer volume of traffic rumbling through the brand new tunnel.

The opening of Rawalpindi's very first underpass has disappointed those who believed that the two- lane underpass would actually help ease traffic congestion. Instead of whizzing through the underpass to their work or other destinations, motorists still find themselves stuck in slow moving traffic, although some blame this on the faulty traffic signals along Murree Road.

The zeal to complete underpasses in the record 90 days, first in Lahore and now in Rawalpindi, evidently stems from the apparent desire to equal the record set by a previous chief minister, now living in exile abroad, in building underpasses in Lahore. But the obvious question which many motorists are asking is, what was the need to have such a hectic deadline in completing the Committee Chowk underpass, particularly when workmanship was clearly being compromised?

Moreover, would not the underpass be more efficient if it had at least three-lanes in each direction? A senior traffic police official has claimed in a Dawn report that his department, considering the daily traffic count of 128,000 vehicles on this road, had recommended a minimum three-lane underpass when the project was being planned.

The availability of land for constructing the underpass apparently played a role in the decision to have a two-lane underpass rather than a three-lane one. In fact, the land available was such a tight squeeze that there was no space left for the construction of footpaths on the slip roads, as a result of which shops along the slip roads come right up onto the road.

Was it worth spending Rs350 million (up from the original estimate of Rs275 million reported in January 2004 and later Rs300 million reported in June 2004) on an underpass in which the capacity for the existing traffic is apparently insufficient?

Construction of the flyover at Faizabad (between Islamabad and Rawalpindi) in the 1990s took many years to complete and this delay was much criticized at the time. But those who use this flyover daily cannot imagine life now without this landmark structural facility which has considerably eased the flow of traffic at this important junction since the day it was opened.

Work on the other three proposed underpasses at Murree Road - at Asghar Mall Chowk, Chandni Chowk and Sixth Road Intersection - is yet to start, but hopefully, these will be better planned and also not un necessarily rushed through within ninety days once construction begins.

If it is true that the contractor for the Committee Chowk underpass was promised a bonus for completing it within 90 days, it would be a wiser move to promise the contractors for the rest of the underpasses bonuses only if quality of workmanship is guaranteed, for example, if the tiles do not come off within the first year of completion!

Another set of five underpasses - three pedestrian and two commercial containing shops - is also being planned for Peshawar Road in the city. Unlike the underpasses on Murree Road which are for vehicular traffic and are supposed to ease traffic congestion, the underpasses on Peshawar Road are meant to curb the numerous accidents caused by pedestrians crossing the road.

Apart from these total nine underpasses, a ring road is also being projected for the outskirts of Rawalpindi city, alongside which a new industrial area will be established.

Rawalpindi is not the only city in the province where the development of such infrastructural civic projects is being undertaken at a frenzied pace. Similar infrastructural development programmes of underpasses, bypasses, ring roads and flyovers have been instituted or are in place in Lahore, Faisalabad, Multan, Gujranwala and Bahawalpur.

With local government elections due soon, all this hectic developmental activity is taking place under the platform of the incumbent political party in the province.

One can understand the desire by incumbent district governments, supported by like-minded MNAs and MPAs of the area, to have prominently visible, concrete and tangible infrastructural development projects which give their cities a brand new face to ensure their re-election.

However, the goal should not be the mere completion of these structural developmental projects per se, but the provision of qualitative road networks and other infrastructural facilities that really ease the flow of traffic and improve the lives of the people whom they represent.

Is Ashley telling it as it is?

When Ashley Tellis tells us a thing or two about the military strategies and nuclear postures of India, Pakistan or China, it is usually rewarding to listen attentively. He was the one man in New Delhi his fellow diplomats at the American embassy turned to for a reasoned analysis when India and Pakistan appeared to be heading for an armed conflict in 2002, amid genuine fears that a nuclear exchange was nigh.

Being US ambassador Robert Black will's right-hand man, Tellis's word was in any case going to be backed by institutional authority. As it turned out, he didn't need that support. He simply called the stand off correctly and pronounced that the chances of a nuclear exchange, or even a full-scale conventional war, were negligible to minimal.

During his tenure here, Tellis published the voluminous - some said seminal - book that analyzed the impulses which went into the May 1998 nuclear tests of Pokharan. Ashley's "India's Emerging Nuclear Posture", together with George Perkovitch's "India's Nuclear Bomb", have since become two of the most thoroughly researched analyses on the subject.

Last week, Tellis, who is now a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington D.C., sent me an article he wrote for The Washington Quarterly's latest issue.

Titled "US Strategy: Assisting Pakistan's transformation", it has been discussed with George Perkovitch and Teresita Schaffer, a highly regarded South Asian affairs expert.

During his tenure in New Delhi, a few serious analysts, including senior Pakistani diplomats, mistrusted Tellis for his apparent pro-India bias. Since he was seen as a close associate of Ambassador Black will, whose approach to the Vajpayee administration's militarist zealotry was seen as indulgent, it is not easy to completely disagree with his critics.

Some of Tellis's views are given below: Although Musharraf has been rightly commended for his courageous early post-9/11 decisions in the global war against terrorism, Pakistan today deliberately remains reluctant to pursue the Taliban along its north-western frontier and continues to support various groups operating in Kashmir.

Islamabad continues to support groups in pursuit of geopolitical interests it perceives as critical, such as securing a friendly, even pliant regime in Afghanistan and wresting the state of Jammu and Kashmir away from India.

The terrorist groups nurtured by Islamabad today for its own strategic purposes may end up turning against the Pakistani state, as has already happened in some instances, with grave consequences for stability in a large, populous, nuclear-armed Muslim country.

Pakistan has accumulated a complex set of strategic, economic, political, and societal problems throughout its 50 years of troubled statehood that are not only individually challenging but also mutually and viciously reinforcing.

Successive Pakistani leaders have shied away from promoting serious reform because the daunting nature of their country's crisis has inevitably implied that even partial amelioration would require extensive revolutionary change. They have therefore traditionally settled either for half-baked or sham efforts at reform, none of which survived their terms in office.

Thus far, Gen. Musharraf has not demonstrated that he is an exception to this rule. The structural reforms he has overseen have focused mainly on strengthening his own hold on power, and reforms related to policy improvements carry no guarantees of surviving his term in office.

For all his pleas about "enlightened moderation," Gen. Musharraf has in fact done little to develop institutions that will promote a democratic temper or provide moderate political forces in Pakistan an opportunity to prosper.

To the contrary, his politics have resulted in Islamist political parties rising to prominence in Pakistan's highest legislative bodies for the first time, while his strategies for preventing Islamist control of the state in the long term all hinge on continued military supremacy in Pakistani politics.

Most of the changes necessary to transform Pakistan into a success story have to be undertaken and led by Pakistanis themselves. Outsiders, including powerful allies such as the United States, can only play a supporting role.

Successful transformation will require Pakistani leaders to make difficult choices, including subordinating immediate, often important institutional, interests for larger national gains. Few, however, have historically appeared capable of meeting this challenge; and the current military leadership, despite being well intentioned, is unlikely to prove exceptional in this regard.

Gen. Musharraf's refusal to implement an agreement previously reached with Pakistan's major political parties to retire as chief of army staff is the latest example of how short-term, sometimes personal, interests still trump larger concerns of public importance. In this case, Musharraf's actions will further retard the return to democratic rule.

Assisting the transformation of Pakistan into a stable, non-threatening state will also require important allies such as the United States to demonstrate a willingness to sacrifice key short-term interests to realize long-term benefits.

Because such a transformation inevitably demands that Pakistan become a fully democratic regime in which the military functions as the guardian, not the master, of the state, the key question is whether Washington and other capitals have the foresight, skill, and political will actively to pursue policies that push Islamabad in this direction while still maintaining its cooperation in fighting the war on terrorism.

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Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said he was not on a transactional visit to India. And, indeed, the directive came into play at various stages of the visit. One person who found herself caught in the crossword puzzle of the banker's lexicon was the celebrated danseuse Sonal Mansingh.

When she was introduced to the visitor as "India's most accomplished dancer", it led to a few pleasantries and the question: "When are you going to invite me to dance in Pakistan?" Mr. Aziz, unrelenting in his resolve to avoid any transaction, promptly turned to Pakistan's high commissioner Aziz Ahmed Khan and said: "That's his department."

By that time the high commissioner was looking way beyond Ms Mansingh's pleading eyes, leaving her stranded and without ovation.

Neighbourhood news

The peace and serenity of a friend's neighbourhood has been shattered since one of her more illustrious neighbours decided to come back to a resounding welcome by his friends. It is none other than Asif Ali Zardari of Bilawal House. But will the old days also come back again? When Mr and Mrs Zardari were residing, the neighbourhood never saw the water tanker mafia; and there was so much water in the localities around Bilawal House.

There would be regular sprays of mosquito repellants around the grand house and those coming within range benefited by default. And government sweepers never dared throw garbage on the empty plot opposite their gate or burn refuse in the vicinity. Electricity too was never in short supply.

Then came the day when the couple left. Of course there was more peace, but the plentiful supply of water and electricity disappeared. The residents now had to buy their own water. However, what remained unchanged was the distribution of crates of Sindhri mangoes every summer all around the neighbourhood.

Now the man of the house is back. His party men flock to him throughout the day and the lanes and bylanes going to Bilawal House are packed with four-wheelers of all hues and types.

While their owners are renewing ties inside, the bored chauffeurs while away their time outside, chatting, exchanging notes and even relieving themselves in the open. And as if this isn't enough, many of them park their vehicles on the green patches outside homes, much to the consternation of the residents.

National coalition

There is some good news from the education front. A number of civil society organizations, social activists and professionals got together last week for a brainstorming session on the idea of forming a national coalition of education, to be financed by the Commonwealth Education Fund.

After a lively debate on the concept - what should be its aim, strategy and who should be members of the coalition - it was decided that it would help if those working in the field came together and joined hands to help the country achieve the key education goals enshrined in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Of the eight goals adopted by the UN at the turn of the century, two are directly related to education. These are universal primary education by the year 2015 and gender equality in education.

It needs no great insight to see that Pakistan is nowhere close to achieving these goals. Primary school enrolment remains pathetically low while the drop-out rate is shockingly high.

The organizations represented at the Karachi meeting are doing solid work on the ground to make education accessible to the poor especially in the rural areas. Thus, the Indus Resource Centre, which hosted the meeting, itself runs 114 schools in the Dadu and Khairpur districts.

There were representatives of other organizations such as Hands, Mashal, Faran Education Society, Bright Education Society, Sindh Education Foundation, the Aga Khan Education Service and IED.

All of these are estimated to be running nearly 2,000 schools in Sindh for the poor. They are also involved in teacher training projects and, apart from their own teachers, they are training 16,000 government school teachers.

Their commitment and hard work notwithstanding, despondency seems to be setting in. They feel that what they are doing is no more than a drop in the ocean and they have been unable to make a difference. The view was widely expressed that only the state whose duty it is to provide primary education to all its children has the resources and the manpower to do that.

But the state seems to be least inclined to perform this function. Hence the idea that if a coalition is formed it could bring pressure on the government by lobbying, policy dialogues, networking and raising awareness for the achievement of universal access and equity in primary education.

Those who are working in the field of education understand the problem better than anyone else. They also know the doings and mis doings of the administration in this field.

They are therefore most qualified to make demands from the government and since they are working with the poor they also know how education can be made accessible to them. They also have better knowledge of the corruption and ineptitude of government departments to make them accountable.

How many Karachians have stepped out of their city to see what is happening in the interior of Sindh? One participant informed the meeting that a big school building had been erected in Moro at a spot where there was no sign of habitation for four kilometers around.

Which child will ever go to that deserted area to attend classes? Yet another participant said that near Tando Allahyar a middle school building was built 10 years ago. It is still lying deserted because it has not been handed over to the education department by the works department.

Coalitions are also to be set up in every province and they will ultimately join to form a national coalition. It remains to be seen how the government will respond to the move. It is a signatory to the document listing the millennium goals and the coalition will be demanding just that.

People's protest bearing fruit

In what can at best be described as an unusual chain of events, the people of one area in PECHS have been successful in having an illegal school closed in their vicinity.

While most parts of PECHS have been commercialized, there are still some pockets of sanity remaining and these are jealously protected by residents who value their peace and tranquillity.

Imagine their surprise one day when they saw a school being set up in a residential bungalow all set to receive students in a week. It seems that the out-of-town owner of the house had quietly rented out the premises to a chain of schools.

The school had quietly set up shop in the hope that as happens in such situations, the neighbours would raise some noise and then resign themselves to their fate. What happened instead was that the neighbours picketed the school and raised quite a stink.

The doors of justice were also knocked and in the end, after a great hue and cry, the school shut its doors and packed up. Who says the people of Karachi can't achieve results - it's only a matter of working together and protesting loudly enough.

Official websites

One of the signs that our government has entered the modern age of information technology and is using the latest tools of communications is the emergence of the Internet in practically all government departments. They all have websites and email addresses are always listed in their ads in case you need some further information.

It is a different story, as many have complained, that queries emailed to them remain unanswered and the websites are sometimes not updated regularly. The websites and email addresses have become mere status symbols and are generally not used to increase efficiency.

But a friend has something else to say. Wanting to invest in savings certificates, she went down to the nearest savings centre which is reputed to be the best in the city (at the Khadda Market in DHA) to collect forms and get information.

On reaching home she felt she needed more information. She decided to send an email to the address given in the leaflet she had got to ask for more information. She went through the exercise without really expecting to hear from anyone. But two weeks later she actually received an email from "M.Abaidullah Azam, AD" (censave@isb.paknet.com.pk). Attached was a file giving the latest details about savings certificates. Just goes to prove that people who take their duties seriously will continue to do so even in a system which is inefficient and lethargic.

email: karachi_notebook@hotmail.com.