Engineers body shows concern over poor maintenance of civic facilities in Federal Capital

ISLAMABAD: Institution of Engineers Pakistan (IEP) Rawalpindi-Islamabad chapter has expressed serious concern over poor maintenance of civic facilities including roads and footpaths in the Federal Capital.

Talking to a group of journalists here on Saturday, Chairman IEP- Rawalpindi-Islamabad chapter, Engineer Hussain Ahmad Siddiqui asserted the original design of the infrastructure has not been completed while maintenance condition of the civic network is poor, adding this is resulting into traffic jams especially during peak hours.

The footpaths along the roads have not been provided even in those sectors which were completed in the early phases. Horizontal roads, the system of transition, horizontal and vertical curves is yet to be put in place.

Already constructed clover leaves at Faizabad, Zeropoint, Faisal Avenue as well as some other points do not have smooth flow of traffic because of non-existence of the exit lanes, he said adding, the blind corners and junctions need immediate improvement.

Engineer Siddiqui said there is no proper system of maintenance of roads/footpaths, adding, the gangs of road maintenance staff is seldom seen repairing the potholes and there seems to be no arrangement of making bituminous material at the sector/sub-sector level for filling the potholes.

He said the use of milling machine, CDA being the first to acquire it in the country, to cut off/level the swollen roads is hardly seen, adding, the use of cold emulsion for repairing the roads seem to have been discarded.

Similarly, the introduction of tuff tiles for footpaths was done with the sole idea of replacing the damaged-portion without disturbing other parts.

No serious replacement effort is done in this regard, which is destroying the footpaths.

Engineer Siddiqi said, the installation of weighing bridges should be taken in hand immediately so that overweight carriers damaging the roads can be checked.

The traffic survey on highways/main roads should be done after every five years so that the design capacity of the roads can be increased by improving or adding another layer of bituminous wearing course or sub-service layer with aggregates, he added.

The maintenance of government houses is also very poor as the simple and minor faults are not being attended.

The white washing and other maintenance needs of these houses and government buildings are not being taken care of giving the capital city an ugly look. Similar is the case of horticultural needs, he added.

He pointed out that the water supply to various sectors is not sufficient.

The water supply lines have been laid decades ago and their life is over-spent. More than 25% of water is lost through leakages.

To improve, the replacement and distribution system of the water has to be managed in a better way.

Engineer Hussain Ahmad Siddiqui said there is a dire need for exploring new sources of water supply.

The construction of auxiliary spill-way at Simly Dam has increased the water storage capacity but there is a potential of having another reservoir for storage on the up-stream side of the present dam in the catchment area.

It has been observed during the rains that the nallah along the road leading to Khanna Bridge gets over-flooded and even near-by streams overflow, he added.