by Jahangir Sofi
SRINAGAR: Amidist criticism over the “sluggish” pace of work on the ongoing projects by Srinagar Smart City, authorities have said that within the next 10-15 days the black topping on roads will start and that the work on Jahangir Chowk junction will finish by the end of this month.
CEO of Srinagar Smart City, Dr Owais Ahmad told Kashmir Life that due to the recent wet spell, soil in Srinagar and elsewhere in the valley was wet and that with the improvement in weather conditions they are going to start the black topping of roads in the areas which witnessed digging and other works.
“There are around 68 ongoing projects of which a maximum are minor. However, there are a few major as well like Jahangir Chowk junction or Dalgate- Buchwara road and efforts are underway to finish these projects by the end of this month”, he said.
Responding to the criticism over the narrowing width of carriage roads in Srinagar, he said that beforehand, the planning of roads, their urban planners in collaboration with concerned stakeholders and other allied departments were taken on board to ensure the smooth movement of traffic.
“As per the road width availability we have two lane roads for upward and downward traffic movement and the space (third lane) where there used to be unnecessary stoppage of vehicles has been used as parking base”, he said.
Regarding the digging work carried out by Srinagar Smart City, Ahmad reassured that a significant portion of the digging was already completed, primarily during the winter months when traffic volumes were lower.
While acknowledging potential disruptions to traffic flow, the CEO of Srinagar Smart City underscored the necessity of understanding the scale of the ongoing projects and assured that meticulous planning has been undertaken to minimize inconveniences.
“The maximum of digging work has been completed during winters when traffic load was less on roads and the execution was done in a planned way. I agree that there can be interruptions in traffic movement but we need to understand the large-scale volume of work going on,” he said.
He assured that with the improvement in weather conditions, macadamization work on Karanagar and Jahangir Chowk and other road stretches will commence in the coming days.
