CM orders master plan for Abbottabad traffic management

PESHAWAR: Caretaker Chief Minister Syed Arshad Hussain Shah on Wednesday directed the officials to prepare a master plan for traffic management in Abbottabad.

He issued the orders while chairing a meeting that discussed traffic issues of the divisional headquarters, Abbottabad, said to handout.Spokesperson to chief minister Brigadier (R) Syed Mujtaba Tirmizi and officials of Transport Department and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Urban Mobility Authority (KPUMA) attended the meeting.

The participants of the meeting were briefed about the proposed Urban Mobility Plan for Abbottabad.It was told that consultancy services were under process under the Urban Transport Package-II to develop Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans (SUMPs) for three major cities of the province including Peshawar, Abbottabad and Mingora. The SUMPs will have concept designs of priority urban mobility projects for aforementioned cities.

The participants were also briefed about different options for Bus Rapid Transit service in Abbottabad on the model of the project in Peshawar.The chief minister directed the KPUMA to prepare the master plan for traffic management in Abbottabad keeping in view the ground realities, objective conditions and prevailing vehicular traffic problems in the city.

“A realistic and viable traffic plan should be prepared in consultation with all the stakeholders,” he said and directed to have a joint meeting of all the relevant departments and authorities to be presided over by the commissioner of the Hazara division.

Syed Arshad Hussain Shah said the traffic issue in the city was getting worse with each passing day and needed to be addressed once and for all.“We need to have a comprehensive plan keeping in view the future requirements of the city as well as requisites of urban mobility,” he remarked.