Bin Qasim Association of Trade & Industry (BQATI) President Usman Ahmed, in a press release issued here on Wednesday, has expressed concern over severe traffic jams occurring due to repair work being currently undertaken at Malir Bridge, by terming it a source of great concern and anxiety to the trade, industry and staff / foreigners working at Bin Qasim Industrial area.
Citizens have been facing this problem on a daily basis, especially during morning and evening hours, while travelling to Port Qasim via National Highway and back to the metropolis. Facing traffic congestion and severe traffic jams had become a routine affair for the locals.
BQATI president said that the National Highway, leading from Malir bridge to Port Qasim More, was under great pressure from passing traffic as heavy transportation heading toward city and upcountry from Port Qasim, Port Industrial Zone, Steel Mill, Steel Town, Gulshan-e-Hadeed and other industries situated in Bin Qasim Zone have been using the same road, which now gives the impression of a narrow street.
Looting and snatching incidents at key point during traffic gridlock have also created a lot of panic, especially among foreign engineers and technical staff working in Bin Qasim Industrial Zone. These events have re-emphasised the need to implement strict security measures to minimise criminal activities in the area and to improve the overall traffic situation during rush hours.
BQATI Patron In-chief & Founder President Mian Muhammed Ahmed also showed concern over the prevailing situation and said that at the time when industrial production needed to be boosted up to help the economy, incidents like these would act as serious deterrents to local and foreign investment.
BQATI observed that the area traffic police had miserably failed to regulate traffic manually and chaos like situation prevailed at Malir, Quaidabad, Manzil pump, areas falling under Quaidabad bridge on both sides, Dawood Chowrangi bridge and other link roads where traffic jams were a routine matter, while the situation had further worsened with time and needed immediate attention of authorities concerned.
Meanwhile, BQATI Vice President Abdul Rasheed Jan Mohammed said that trends of industrial investment was very active in Bin Qasim Industrial Zone as many industries have already been established under joint ventures and have brought sizeable Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) into the country. Therefore, it was very important to encourage all industrialists to keep businesses gong by maintaining smooth flow of traffic in this important area.
He also stated that the alternate route should have been notified before taking such a major work and a time line in this connection should have been made public. Furthermore, such work should only be carried out on Saturdays and Sundays when businesses were mostly closed.
BQATI appealed to the authorities concerned to look into the matter and to instruct the department concerned to expedite the repairing work of joints. They demanded that heavy traffic should be restricted during sensitive hours or in alternate repairing work should be carried out during night time so the flow of traffic could be effectively maintained.
Repair work on Malir Bridge causing severe traffic jams
