Wednesday, November 2
TrafficYesterday was a hectic day for me. I had to do a lot of driving around to take care of my daily errands and other errands that came along. All during Ramadan I have made it a point to stay home and not leave the house except for emergencies and family fotooring, ya3ni lilshideed elawi.
But unfortunately, yesterday I had to go back and fourth in Kuwait city amongst a traffic that literally did not move. And while I was driving around I kept thinking about possible solutions to cut the size of traffic and I meant to write about it, but our good old Bo-Rakan subagni in his article in Algabas today. I contemplated his suggestion of raising the price of gasoline and I think that; although it sounds logical, but I only see this solution working for a short while, because knowing rabi3na, I know they won’t hesitate to add loans to their loans leading the smart %^&* MP’s to add more drop of the loans over their drop.
Sorry Bo-Rakan, but with all due respect, your suggestion would only add more enemies to your list.
We need a long term plan.
Some suggestions:
1-Since our great government is blessed nowadays with cash, why not start an underground or sky train project.
2-Another good project would be to build a pedestrian/bike network all around Kuwait city trying to avoid crossing streets by building either tunnels or bridges. This project should include trees, small coffee shops or kiosks, public bathrooms, etc. Something like the sea front project only it should be in each and every area which should be connected to the adjacent areas by means of bridges and tunnels.
Like for example if I want to go from Surrah to Qurtoba, it should be more tempting to go walking or biking instead of driving.
3-Another variation to the projects mentioned in 1,2 could be; building the pedestrian/bike network underground using in/out access of the suggested Metro and provided with ventilation and air-conditioning facilities as much as needed to keep it healthy and usable during summer. Something similar to those underground pathways of Toronto/Canada.
4-A third suggestion is to return to the system of public transportation using public school busses. Why did they stop running them anyway? Siyasat elshad 3ala el7izam? This excuse is not valid anymore.
Well, this is about all I can think of now, do you have any suggestions you want to add?
3ala el3imoom kil 3am wi into bisa7ah wi salamah, and may God protect you from War of the Streets, allah el7afith.
Name::AyyA
From::Kuwait
I AM WHO I AM AS I ARRIVE AT YOUR DOOR WHETHER I COME OR I GO IS NOT UP TO ME FOR I HAVE LOST SIGHT OF ALL DESIRE "Walled Garden of Truth",Hakim Sanai
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10 Comments:
I was gonna say number three...build everything underground with all the facilities air-conditioned I think thats the solution not just for traffic but for other things as well
The pedestrian/bike idea is great except it won't work during the summer. Building everything underground is costly and some could argue about security issues.
As for busses, Kuwaitis will refuse to use them simply because they're mostly packed with low-waged foreigners (indian/bangladesh/etc..).
I blame the way Kuwait is planned because we have highly-dense areas of everything:
1 - Schools are too close to eachother (see Jabriya/Surra/)
2 - Shopping Malls & Restaurants beside one another (see Salmiya/Gulf Road)
3 - Damaged roads (Salwa/Hawalli)
4 - Traffic lights on ringroads (2nd, 3rd, 4th..)
5 - Trucks/Lorries/Tractors on inappropriate routes. (Shuwaikh)
6 - Supermarket, Mosque, Police Station, Bank, Coffee Shop, Playground all at one place with insufficient parking space. (Adaylia/Yarmook)
hehehehehe Ayya this is what I remembered when I read this post: masra7yat 7amee al Deyar lama Sa3ad AlFaray yedesh 3ala rab3a bel gahwa wegolohom Dewaniya e3roogha bel mai..al7okoma 3azamat et'thamen aldeera weberdon ahal deera da`7el al soor (seyasat al3awada) besawoon al deera 6abagat...besawoon al Kuwait 100 6abaga...Te6ala3 min baitik al9ebe7, bishtik ta7at eb6ik terkab ge6arik, raye7 wezartik khale9 dawamik no6ik bu alfik eb jeebik rakeb ge6arik!! LOOOL
Happy Eid babe and drive safely :*
A3sab
True and one advantage is that it could be used as a shelter for times of war. We should not forget that we have a neighbor that has nuclear plants, how can we be sure that it won’t use it against us one day. Eli7tiyat wajib.
3baid
Summertime is the only time that we don’t suffer from traffic; a lot of Kuwaitis are on vacations outside Kuwait.
As for the high cost of the underground pathways, I think this could be arguable through a feasibility study which could be the initial project. A good idea would be to include the public in this study through a public competition, let the engineers who graduate each year and wait for months to get a job through i7san elgovernment have something to get them busy. And set a good reward for the most cost effective study.
As for busses, this could also be solved by assigning an adult from the school to accompany kids.
As for the problem you mentioned; Kuwait does not go hand in hand with planning. Sorry to say this but, working with government for so many years had proved to me that a lot of planning studies are done but no one bothers to go by the plans.
I tell you how the planning is done:
Each ministry is doing an annual plan as well as a five years’ plan. These plans include ministrys' projects as well as their required work force (personnel/ qualifications). Ministry of planning gathers these plans each year under one umbrella and according to them issues the government planning report to the council of ministers. This plan should be sufficient enough to include priorities of projects as well as compatibilities of each ministry’s plan with the other. This may sound idle if it’s done properly, but unfortunately, this does not work in Kuwait for so many reasons I include some as follows:
1-Priority report for the projects in each ministry is not done per the actual needs, but rather to each minister’s preference. And bearing in mind that the minister’s time is only four years, therefore, each minister has his own agenda when he gets assigned to each ministry.
2-The ministry of planning only gathers the reports and binds them in one folder without going into the study of each report or whether they are compatible with each other. This report is also represented to the council of ministers and goes through some changes also not considering the importance of these projects.
3-Some ministries and government sects are excluded due to one reason or another.
4-The report is only done to busy the masses that each year ministries are forced to accept under the notion “ 3iyal liKuait ga3deen bidoon shogol bilbait, we have to get them distributed to ministries even if it did not go with their required qualifications). And btw, I was forced one time to distribute three sharee3a graduates in the ministry of Public Works, and as you know this ministry’s main function is construction. And when I complained they said it’s Kuwait’s policy.
5-The parliament is not qualified enough to discuss these reports when it is presented to them each year. Their main concern is to check if these projects include any benefit to their areas of concern, but no overall awareness is exercised.
Jeliyoo
Inti wainich, I missed you girl, hope you are doing ok with your studies. Bas walla low yekhaloon Sa3ad Elfaraj yesawi elplanning 7ag el7okoomah yikoon abrak. LOL
Same to you sweetie :*
Join the green side, and you will grow wings like me - no need to drive :)
the problem is the basic infrastructure wasnt designed to support the current load that our transportation if experiecing, and this "phenomenon" isnt resctricted to kuwait, but is world-wide as well.
but after driving here in Dubai, kuwait is going to seem like a dream!
ok, enough of sounding smart, now here is my real answer: we should have ur 3rd suggestion and throw in bars and strip joints and clubs :D
eidkum mubarak!
Shosho
LOL
Mishoooo
3alaina wi 3alaik sweetie
And you are right, the basic infrastructure was not designed to support the current load, very good observation and if this is not taken care of, it would create a big problem in the near future. But I believe that the Ministry of Public Works is aware of that and I believe I read in newspapers that there is a huge project to modify the infrastructure. I just hope that this project does not elongate over time and the government would have to pay double, if not triple it’s original cost.
Chocolat
You know, the only thing I miss when I’m in Kuwait is walking and biking around. I bet you anything that if I had a choice I would have never used my car unless I really had to.
Ayya
I do alot of driving and I am seeing that things are getting worse than ever on the roads.
The problem with our government is the lack of long term planning.
Traffic jams are not new to Kuwait. Officials have been complaining about the congestion on 4th ring road since the '70's.
If there were plans then to build a subway, a tram system, or sky train then, we would have seen the project realized and well in place by now.
It is relatively cheap to buy a car in Kuwait. Because of the bad public transport system, more and more foreigners are buying cars where they could not afford it before.
Car merchants (big companies) sell cars to everyone for very easy installments and sometimes without kafeel. Of course the car retailers are adding to the problem.
Before, the Ministry of Interior used to be very strict about renewing registration for older cars.
Now, people who own old cars just pay off the employee at the car registration with a bribe and get it renewed. These cars spew black acrid smoke into the air; they stop and break down in traffic and cause congestion.
Also, there are people who pass their driving tests through bribes. Allowing someone like that on our roads is an added hazard.
This is a very important issue. As with all problems, officials want a on the spot remedy.
Why is there no long term planning to avoid problems like this in the future?
This is a problem that concerns several ministries and they should all brainstorm for better long term solutions - according to proper STUDIES and not just saying that we should make it harder for people to get a license.
We should offer people alternative methods of reliable and safe transport in addition to more cross-over bridges to connect the pedestrians.
How true lady J, wasta and ma7soobiya is our cancer.
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