ISLAMABAD: The lights of Peshawar Mor Interchange have been switched off for the last several days, and the civic bodies of both Rawalpindi and Islamabad have been trying to shift blame onto the other.

The Rs5 billion Peshawar Mor interchange project was executed by the Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) at the junction of Kashmir Highway and 9th Avenue, as part of the metro bus project.

The Capital Development Authority (CDA), however, says that since the RDA has not handed over the project to them, therefore, the responsibility to keep the lights on lay with them.

“The handing-over, taking-over of the project is yet to take place, so it’s the RDA’s responsibility to ensure the interchange remains lit,” said Raheel Junejo, deputy director of CDA’s streetlight division.

Kashmir Highway, parts of Jinnah Avenue and 9th Avenue remain unlit due to bickering between civic agencies

“We came to know that RDA has not paid the electricity bill, and hence the interchange is in darkness,” he said.

RDA’s spokesperson Hafiz Irfan, on the other hand, said that the interchange was now the property of CDA and it was their responsibility to look after the lighting arrangements.

Naeem Ahmed, a pedestrian, seemed to be annoyed by the darkness at the interchange.

“The darkness creates problems for motorists,” he told Dawn while crossing one of the loops of the interchange on Sunday night.

The situation is no different on Kashmir Highway, where all the lights from Peshawar Mor to Tarnol have been switched off for the past several days. This includes the section of the highway where roadwork is ongoing, and the diversions on this road remain in darkness, creating problems for motorists who often end up off-road.

Sources in CDA blamed an electrical fault for the disruption in power supply to the lights on the highway.

A similar situation was also observed on a portion of 9th Avenue, and one of the capital’s main arteries, Jinnah Avenue.

Street lights on either side of Jinnah Avenue, from Khyber Plaza to D-Chowk, have been switched off for the last many weeks. The only exception is a small portion near Kalsoom Plaza, where a metro bus station is located.

Only the lights installed on the metro tracks are functional.

“Yes, there is a problem with lights on Jinnah Avenue and we are in touch with the RDA, which had installed lights on either side of Jinnah Avenue, to repair them,” Mr. Junejo said, adding these lights would soon be made operational.

Last month, CDA’s member engineering Asad Mehboob Kayani also wrote a letter to the RDA director general for the restoration of lights on the Jinnah Avenue.

The letter dated August 10 states: “LED lights installed on Jinnah Avenue and 9th Avenue along the Metro bus route have been non-operational for long due to which my office is receiving numerous complaints from the citizens.

“Moreover, the higher authorities have also shown serious concerns over this matter.”

The letter further said that the operation and maintenance of these road lights was the responsibility of the RDA until they were officially handed over to CDA in fully operational mode. “Therefore, you are requested to direct the concerned quarters to make the LED road lights operational at the earliest.”

“The work is in progress, soon we will hand over Jinnah Avenue project to CDA,” an RDA spokesperson said when asked for comment.

Meanwhile, a press release of CDA/Municipal Corporation Islamabad (MCI) quoting Mayor Sheikh Anser Aziz said that street lights installed at major avenues as well as within the sectors were being lit up.

The mayor claimed that conventional street lights are being replaced with modern LED lights so that Islamabad could be made “a city of lights”.

The press release said that more than 2,000 LED lights had been installed on Islamabad Expressway while more than 6,500 new light points has been added /made re-operational during the last few months.

The statement further said that large scale maintenance work was also carried out on Pir Suhawa road from Zoo Chowk to Monal where 70pc lights had been made operational in addition to carrying out renovation of cable network.

The residents of Islamabad are also facing problems in residential sectors because of dysfunctional streetlights, particularly in sector G-6, G-7 and G-8.

Published in Dawn, September 19th, 2017