KARACHI, July 2: The recent bitterness between the city and Sindh governments seems to have put a halt to the proposed Rs3 billion traffic planning and control system as the new political administration is silent over the proposal to transfer the traffic management system to the local authorities.

Inquiries with senior officials at the helm of affairs returned unsatisfactory responses over the city government’s proposal to transfer the traffic police’s planning and control system, while some of them said the proposal was no longer valid after the Feb 18 elections.

“Since a new government is in power, the proposal to allow the city government to take over the traffic control and management system is not likely to materialise,” said a senior official in the Sindh government.

“It has been more than five months since a meeting was called on this subject, which ended without an agreement. We don’t think the issue is likely to be taken up in the near future,” he added.

The city government forwarded the proposal in December 2007, which envisages the local authorities to take over the traffic planning, control and management system through appointing 6,000 wardens. Though the idea requires proper legislation by the centre, the local authorities say the legal formality could be met through an ordinance issued from the Governor’s House, which may be later taken up by the elected assembly.

However, after more than six months, the authorities themselves are in the dark on the project and unable to give a clear answer about the future of the plan.

“We are not in the loop regarding any action about our proposal,” said City Nazim Syed Mustafa Kamal. “Our idea is based on the logic that the city government is held responsible for the traffic engineering but doesn’t have any role in controlling and managing traffic, which doesn’t seem sensible.”

He said the city government could produce better results with the traffic management and control system in hand, as it regulated, planned and operated the metropolis’s network of roads and bridges.

In its proposal, the city government also eyed a huge investment from the provincial government to set up the traffic planning and control system, which is believed to be an issue of debate in the power corridors.

Nearly Rs3 billion would be spent on the system designed by the provincial government, which the local authorities suggested the Sindh government finance, but did not receive an approval.

In the wake of the recent differences over affairs of the Karachi Building Control Autho-rity and the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board, it seems a far cry for the local government to take over the traffic management and control system.Sources in the police, however, said they believed that apart from the city government’s proposal, the Sindh government had not taken up the project plan, which had already been designed and needed a final approval to take off.

A question of control