Expressway expansion part of solution to traffic congestion
The project to expand Muscat Expressway is not a complete solution to ease traffic congestion, but a part of the solution, a top official said. Muscat Municipality recently floated a tender to add three more lanes on either side of the expressway.
Eng Khamis bin Mohammed al Shammakhi, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Transport, Communications and Information Technology for Transport, said roads in the Muscat Governorate are affiliated with Muscat Municipality. Due to the concentration of population in the capital, it becomes overcrowded.
He stressed that expanding the highway in Muscat Governorate is not the complete solution, but rather it is part of the solution. “We must share and use public transportation in order to reduce Congestion,” he said.
Al Shammakhi said the government is evaluating proposals to improve the quality of the roads.
As for street lights, the lighting on the Muscat Expressway needs to be completed, and “when we say completion, we do not mean only the lighting poles, but also the cables and some complementary things.” He added that some areas had cables, but unfortunately, they were vandalised. The ministry also received the governorate’s assessment and began its work.
He confirmed that there is a tender for the maintenance of the Batinah Expressway for the work that has not yet been completed in Al Batinah North and South.
Al Shammakhi said that it is not possible to centralise all roads projects with the ministry. The ministry sets strategies and policies. It thinks about major projects and follows them up. The role of governors and heads of municipal councils is to follow up projects in their governorates and help people.
He pointed out that decentralisation is the best way to achieve success and complete projects, and the vision of His Majesty Sultan Haitham bin Tarik is decentralisation.
Al Shammakhi added that there are many dirt roads extending to 17,000 km and asphalt roads extending to 16,000 km. “All of these roads are under the responsibility of the ministry. So it is not possible for all road work to fall under the responsibility of the ministry,” he said.