Joint Meeting initiated in KPT Head Office to Resolve Traffic Congestion

Eyeing the impending traffic congestion resulting in the aftermath of ending strike by oil tankers’ association that resulted in heavy traffic jams in Keamari Area, causing transport problems to Goods Transporters, led to a jointly initiated meeting in KPT Head Office in which all the stakeholders participated. Two meetings in this regard have taken place in KPT Head Office in which the first one was jointly chaired by Federal Minister for Maritime Affairs Syed Ali Haider Zaidi and Member National Assembly Standing Committee Abdul Qadir Patel on 25th January 2020 and the second one, due to absence of Minster Ali Zaidi, was chaired by Member National Assembly Standing Committee Abdul Qadir Patel on 1st February 2020. These were attended by Federal Secretary Maritime Affairs Syed Rizwan Ahmed, Chairman KPT Rear Admiral (R) Jamil Akhtar HI(M) T.Bt, Advisor to Minister for Maritime Affairs and KPT Trustee Mr Mehmood Moulvi, Deputy Commissioner West Mr. Fayyaz Solangi, SIDCL representative Mr.Samar Khan, SAPTL representative Captain Jamaluddin, PICT representative Mr. Khurram Khan, KICT representative Mr. Zafarullah Jan, representatives of Goods Transporters and high officials of KPT. The meeting were remained focused on both the occasion on finding solutions to resolve the traffic congestion problems being faced by the goods transporters on Keamari Road due to traffic jams created by oil tankers. In an initial remarks to open meeting, the Chairman KPT Rear Admiral Jamil Akhtar informed the respected stakeholders about the Lyari Expressway which was primarily constructed for the heavy vehicle transportation and yet was later made unavailable to the heavy traffic of Karachi Port. The Chairman KPT demanded the possession of parking area land occupied by the oil tankers and said that if this land be made available to KPT then some ease to traffic jams would result. He said that encroachments have further added to this and choked the port area of KPT. He also informed about his previous efforts of approaching law enforcement agencies, including the Sindh Rangers and Sindh Police departments, for the removal of oil tankers from the parking area which the Supreme Court has banned. Various options have evolved during the first meeting which concluded with the decision that SIDCL representative Mr. Samar Khan will present the master plan for land utilization under Layari Expressway. The Minister Ali Zaidi directed the representative of SIDCL to coordinate and work jointly in this regard with the Deputy Commissioner Karachi. In second meeting SIDCL representative came up with their master plan and further options to dissolve traffic congestion came under discussion. During the meeting, the Chairman KPT Rear Admiral Jamil Ahtar requested the MNA Standing Committee Mr. Abdul Qadir Patel to seek approval of the provincial government for availability of sufficient land available along Lyari River for the purpose of providing as parking area to transporters. Mr. Abdul Qadir Patel informed the committee meeting members that Lyari River embankment land has been declared part of urban forest project. He further informed that he has approached and convinced Minister Local Bodies Sindh, Syed Nasir Hussain Shah on importance of the said land for parking heavy good transport vehicles. The Deputy Commissioner (DC) Mr. Fayyaz Solangi shared his presentation to pinpoint development issues of the said 11 acres land. It was also highlighted by the DC that the space will be able to accommodate around 600 trucks for parking. Chairman KPT Rear Admiral Jamil Akhtar suggested to take Traffic Engineers on board for a proper solution. Port Terminal operators were also directed by Chairman KPT to make their trucking operations further efficient to ease traffic blockage on roads leading to the respective port areas. Another temporary parking area at South Wharf of KPT was also offered by Chairman KPT to ensure further relief to commuters on Keamari Road. The meeting later concluded on devising master plan to permanently resolve problems in further meetings.