I highly commend the decision, recently reported by Arabic daily Al Sharq, to create a higher committee to oversee projects to build subways and flyovers in the country. A Ministry of Interior representative will head the new committee, which will have member representatives from a number of agencies and institutions that are directly connection to these projects, including the Ministry of Municipality and Urban Planning,. The Urban Planning Department in the ministry will be responsible for planning the projects and deciding their location. The Public Works Authority, Ashghal will be responsible for implementing these projects, while Qatar Railways Company will specify the location of train stations so flyovers and subways can be built.
Such a committee fills me with pride, keeping in mind its objectives and the timing of its creation, a long time after a series of not so well-planned flyovers were built at the start of the state’s modernisation drive. Several highways were built to connect cities and regions across our country. Although people like me appreciate these flyovers, the first fruits of Qatar’s desire to build its own highways, most of these structures have not been built in the correct manner. Some of them are useless simply because motorists can easily reach their destinations without using these flyovers.
To be more precise, I will give some examples of poorly planned flyovers.
For instance, the February 22 Road has been the target of endless criticism – most of the criticism is directed at the entrance and exit of the road – because of frequent accidents and increasing traffic congestion.
The Salwa Road flyover is another example of a poorly planned flyover. The flyover creates a dilemma in the minds of drivers as to whether they should drive on the flyover or under it since there is roundabout under the flyover which allows them to go straight.
We do not need to go far from the Al Aseeri flyover, which causes equal confusion to motorists who want to drive to Al Wakra or the airport. Last but not least, the Ras Abu Aboud flyover has so many exits and lanes that motorists get lost on it and fail to determine where they are going.
These are examples of flyovers built at the beginning of construction of highways in our country. I have high hopes that the new higher committee will be careful in coordinating the work of all the agencies concerned in order to produce, at the end of the day, a common vision that serves its ultimate objective. Member institutions in the committee must work together in harmony and with flexibility, keeping in mind the sensitive nature of the current phase of development in our country.
This phase makes it necessary for everybody in this country to work hard to put into effect Qatar’s vision for the future, a vision that is badly in need of serious, speedy and committed efforts.
