Expressway blues

This refers to the recent initiative of citizens from the twin cities to highlight the plight of commuters using Islamabad Expressway, the artery that connects hundreds of thousands of people living in Zone-5, and areas beyond Rawat, to their schools, offices, and businesses in Islamabad.

The expansion project of this road that started in 2015 had successfully changed it into a signal-free wide corridor from Zero Point till Koral (Old Airport Chowk). However, the work from Koral till Rawat has been in limbo. During 2018, the allocated funds from the PSDP for this project were not released owning to the fiscal crisis. There are some plausible efforts lately from DC ICT and ITP. However, these are stop-gap arrangements. It is high time that honourable MNAs from Islamabad prioritised this project in the upcoming budget for FY2019-20. In the meantime, stricter implementation of traffic rules by the ITP for everyone, particularly heavy vehicles, should help.

Jawwad Zaki

Islamabad