Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry called for streamlining the Metro Bus matters as due to current state of affairs of this project, citizens are facing many problems. 

 

Khalid Chaudhry, Acting President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry said that Metro Bus project is the need of the hour as it will provide better transportation facility to the commuters of the twin cities and business community also supports this project. However, arrangements of alternative routes for traffic are insufficient due to which Islamabad city is facing great traffic problems and some accidents in recent days have proved this reality. 

 

He appealed to the Chairman Metro Bus Project Committee Hanif Abbasi, Commissioner Rawalpindi and Member Administration CDA to look into these issues in order to bring improvements. He said lot of construction work of Metro Bus project is underway at Murree Road which is very busy road, but due to better performance of Rawalpindi Police, traffic is running smoothly in Rawalpindi. But 9th Avenue in Islamabad, which is ten times bigger than the Murree Road is facing lot of traffic problems due to Metro Bus work and Islamabad city has divided into two parts. There are no sign boards on alternative routes in Islamabad due to which road users are facing great problems. 

 

He said before the start of this project, it was assured that arrangements would be made to deal with dust issues and residents of G-9 would be provided with masks, but practically nothing has been done and many accidents are happening while responsible persons have not been taken to task.

 

Khalid Chaudhry said that Blue Area is the biggest trading center in Islamabad but Metro Bus project has badly affected this area. Due to wrong strategy, all routes to Blue Area are almost closed and there are no sign boards to guide the travelers while traffic system is in a mess. He called upon all the relevant authorities to look into these problems and take remedial measures on urgent basis, otherwise, traders would be forced to launch protests. He said Traffic Engineers should be appointed immediately in Traffic Police and CDA to improve the things.