CDGK inks accord with NED University for use of C&CC

Karachi Jan 25: City District Government Karachi has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with NED University Karachi for utilization of its Command & Control Center for improvement of traffic flow and development of intelligent transportation system (ITS) for Karachi which is a research project being carried out by NED University of Engineering & Technology and University of Mississippi, USA under USAID Project. The MoU was signed by City Nazim Syed Mustafa Kamal and Registrar of NED University Engineer Javed Aziz Khan at a ceremony held in KWSB Head Office on Monday.

The participants attended the ceremony included Vice Chancellor NED University Prof. Dr. Muzaffar Mehmood, Dean Civil Engineering & Architect NED University Prof. Dr. Sahibzada Farooq Ahmed Rafeequi, Chairman Urban and Infrastructure Engineering Prof. Dr. Mir Shabbar Ali, Controller of Services Syed Wasiuddin, Lectures Urban Engineering Department Ms. Madiha Abid and Afzal Ahamd, DCO Karachi Javed Hanif Khan,EDO Municipal Services Masood Alam, Incharge Command & Control Center Faheem Qureishi and others.

A lively discussion on this occasion headed by City Nazim Syed Mustafa Kamal included the appreciation of traffic engineering and operational infrastructure put in place by City District Government Karachi and concluded that through research and studies NED University of Engineering & Technology can identify the traffic problems and causes of failure of traffic management besides providing the recommendations and remedies to cope up with these issues for better traffic management system in the metropolis. Cameras installed by the CDGK at various locations in Karachi can play a vital role in efficient management of traffic for improving traffic flow and reducing congestion at all major and supplementary arteries. According to the MoU researchers from NED University will be provided access to the city government’s Command & Control Center while Corridor-III will be used as NED-CDGK Road Lab for research and development of ITS based traffic management system.

Expressing his views on traffic problems in Karachi the City Nazim expressed hope that a better and permanent solution could be reached through the coordination of universities especially professional educational institutions that can correctly identified the problems and give valuable suggestions. He further said that despite of spending billions of rupees on traffic engineering the problems were still there due to absence of better enforcement and no action from traffic police on violations of rules.

City Nazim said most of the traffic problems were related to management and not  to traffic engineering. Though such problems were solved by all big cities through mass transit system but city government did not have the resources to carry out such a huge project that cost billions of dollars on its own and only federal government can do this in Karachi. He said that unity of command was the key to solution of city’s problems. Despite of constructing Pakistan’s first car parking plaza with modern facilities hundreds of vehicles were still seen parked in no parking zones and no one take action against them.