Concrete overdose

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government is all set to fast track the implementation of the Peshawar uplift plan. The agenda is very lofty and out of touch with the ground realities. The city and cantonment limits are over-populated and saturated with buildings that have devoured all the open spaces especially play grounds and public parks. The roads are so narrow that they cannot sustain the current level of vehicular traffic which is increasing by the day.

When development plans for the township of Hayatabad were rolled out in the 1980s, the blueprints accommodated for shifting the existing judicial complex, civil secretariat, and provincial assembly. This would help ease congestion once the township had been built. Unfortunately, none of the government institutions moved and the Peshawar cantonment lost all its open grounds. Any uplift plan for Peshawar cannot take off unless the city and cantonment shed the overload it is already carrying.

Sayed GB Shah Bokhari

Peshawar