New bus routes in capital city on cards: CDA Chairman

ISLAMABAD:Chairman Capital Development Authority (CDA), Amer Ali Ahmed here on Thursday said that the authority would introduce new bus routes to connect different parts of the city to its centre.

 

The CDA Chairman was addressing a conference organised by the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE), with the purpose to showcase the research projects completed under the banner of “Research for Social Transformation and Advancement (RASTA)”.

 

Amer said, CDA was initiating important projects to ease the traffic problems faced by the public at large, adding that a parking plaza would be constructed in the Blue Area to mitigate parking problems in the area.

 

He was of the view that traffic congestion in cities like Islamabad was caused by the fundamental problems in the design of the cities, which were designed for cars instead of people. Amer said that the traffic problems in the capital were exacerbated by the horizontal rather than vertical expansion of the city.

 

Due to the design of the city, he said, it was not feasible for the private sector to provide mass transport for the public.

 

He stressed that people also need to change their mindset as they park their cars in front of the places they visit, due to which parking plazas remain unused, which was a waste of resources.

 

He appreciated the efforts of PIDE in highlighting the problems in city designs in Pakistan and traffic problems.

 

It is pertinent to mention that PIDE, in collaboration with the CDA, is working on a project that would introduce paid parking system in selected parts of Islamabad on a pilot basis.