ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad Policy Research Institute (IPRI) study titled Assessment of Traffic Congestion and Management Issues in Islamabad launched here on Thursday underlined that the congestion was mainly due to increase in population and number of vehicles, and lack of public transport.
The first ever study on traffic woes by IPRI also mentioned that the traffic woes were also due to haphazard extension of the landmass, absence of digital and scientific approach in manning traffic; and poor road engineering.
In a debut study of its kind, a thorough assessment of the Federal Capital’s traffic issues was conducted by IPRI which is a landmark initiative of its kind, and the survey was conducted by physically interacting with general public, drivers, police personal and other stakeholders.
The intention was to bring to fore a scientific assessment on the management of traffic in a holistic manner, and appropriate suggestions and measures to overcome the prevailing mess were pointed out.
IPRI’s Research team comprised of Muhammad Nawaz Khan, Usama Nizamani and Atif Aziz. The intention was to study the increasing traffic congestion in Islamabad (as well as the twin cities); to evaluate and highlight factors contributing towards congestion; to survey public and Islamabad Traffic Police perceptions and to articulately recommend solutions to the policy-makers for the alleviation of traffic issues.
The session was attended by Special Adviser to the Prime Minister Romina Khursheed Alam; senior police and Interior Ministry officials, civil society members and heads of Think-Tanks in Islamabad.
President IPRI Ambassador (R) Raza Muhammad highlighted the significance of the study and observed that the number of vehicles have risen disproportionate to the size of bulging population. He said that until and unless the traffic was regulated as per ground realities and scientific mechanism, the problem would persist.
Director Research Brig (R) Raashid Wali Janjua, whose team led the research, eulogized the potential of such surveys and said that data-driven research and recommendations were essential to have a proper policy-making, and the twin-cities traffic was a test case of IPRI’s involvement in civil affairs on a scientific premise.
The causes of congestion that came to fore were increase in population and haphazard extension of the landmass; rise in in number of vehicles and lack of public transport, absence of digital and scientific approach in manning traffic; and last but not least poor road engineering.
The study suggested to increase the strength of ITP personnel to 2700 from 691; a transparent policy of direct recruitment, especially from BPS-1 to BPS-7; and increasing the transport pool of vehicles. It was also recommended to improve the driving licensing regime at par with the international standards, especially the one in vogue in the UAE.