Pakistan - Punjab Govt's Roads obsession

The Punjab government's obsession with the construction and widening of roads is getting out of control as it is bent upon facilitating a small section of citizens — vehicle owners — at the cost of the environment by cutting trees and dismantling public property and heritage. A full bench of the Lahore High Court the other day, while allowing over one hundred petitions, scrapped the elevated expressway project from Qartaba Chowk to Liberty in Gulberg. The court has ordered the Punjab government to follow proper guidelines before launching the project and acquiring land and property for the purpose post haste. The counsel for the Punjab government argued that it was a public welfare project but he failed to justify why utmost urgency was being paid to the completion of this road. The construction of a signal-free corridor at the cost of Rs 27 billion while showing apathy to more important sectors like health and education provides some insight into the government's priorities. In its urgency to get the project completed, the government has put all rules and regulations on the backburner, leading to the suspicion of the involvement of some vested interests. Despite the construction of a large number of underpasses, signal-free corridors, excessively wide roads and an elevated expressway on the Ferozepur Raod, there is no end to traffic gridlock on almost all city roads. A lack of proper planning and inherent flaws have made all this infrastructural development less than beneficial. The traffic in Lahore remains clogged up as no methodology and scientific studies have been followed while designing road patterns to resolve the issue of transportation on a permanent basis.

Some serious efforts are needed to make the government aware of the consequences of unregulated urban sprawl and development at the cost of the environment. It is critical to apply scientific methods to resolve traffic problems due to increasing urbanisation. The widening of roads to cater for an ever increasing population is only a temporary and not the best solution. For the city of Lahore that is facing a massive influx of people from the rural areas, a mass transit system is the only option. Another solution is the establishment of twin cities and development of satellite towns that must be equipped with all the necessities of modern life in order to discourage the trend of migration of people from rural to urban areas. The government must understand that the concept of a modern city has changed. Instead of focusing on short term solutions, the government should make future planning on scientific lines. The launching of the Metro Bus Service in Lahore, which is considered the least efficient mode of travel all over the world, has already proved a wastage of money. Every new development project must be initiated after taking stock of all the pros and cons and future needs.