Roadwork in progress in the Industrial Area between Streets 10 and 23. Pic: Baher Amin / The Peninsula
Navigating through the streets in Industrial Area near Doha has become a tough task with a number of road closures and diversions resulting in heavy traffic congestions. Road diversions due to the ongoing infrastructure development projects and damaged roads, together with the rains, have made life miserable for motorists due to big potholes and rainwater collected in low-lying areas.
The most affected areas are Al Attiya Street, Al Wekalat Street, Street Nos 10, 15 and 23, among others. Roads leading to the Industrial Area from Salwa Road are packed with cars, heavy vehicles - trucks and buses - due to diversion, mostly at 5pm when workers return from the sites to their accommodations.
The snail's pace traffic can be seen in these areas during peak-hours - from 8am to 1pm and 4pm to 8pm.
On weekends, Street No 10 has huge traffic jams, on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, when people visit the area to buy and sell second-hand cars.
The rains, over the last two weeks, have made the situation worse with water-filled potholes bringing traffic to a halt at places where the flow was already slow.
People have urged the authorities to take immediate action to bring about a temporary solution to the congestion till the projects are completed. They suggest the deployment of traffic police during peak hours and reconsidering the decision to make so many diversions at a time.
“My company is on Street No: 39, and with the current pace of works, direct access to the street has been closed. We have to go through gaps between buildings on Street No 38 to reach the work site. During the recent rains, all workers had to park their vehicles far away and wait for the company transport to take us through the water-filled street,” said an engineer working in a company at Industrial Area.
“Industrial Area has been witnessing huge traffic jams due to diversions at many places,” Maqbol Ahmad, a Pakistani national, working with an electric shop, told The Peninsula.
“Last week, I was stuck in the traffic on Street No. 23. It took about two hours to reach Al Attiya market,” said Ahmad.
“I avoid Industrial Area unless it is very urgent due to the heavy traffic there,” said Mohamad Ali, a Bangladeshi national operating a construction site. “A temporary solution is needed to cope with traffic blocks. Deployment of traffic police could be a great help to ease the vehicle flow”, he added.
“My accommodation is on Street No. 42. Our bus gets stuck for long hours in the evening when we come back from construction sites,” said Ram Kumar, a Nepali worker. “There are diversions at many places at the same time and we have to take a long trip to access certain areas, especially those falling between Street No. 10 and 15,” a motorist, who came to a garage in the Industrial Area said.
"With all these diversions and closures, Industrial Area has become a maze. I come to the area for business purposes and on each visit, traffic gets diverted at different points and at times I lose my way. Added to this, the bad roads also cause damage to the vehicles," an Indian business man said.
The Public Works Authority (Ashghal) is working on a major infrastructure development project in Doha Industrial Area that includes developing sewage system and building roads. The project that began in early 2014 is being executed in phases.
“Some countries provide traffic police upon the requests of construction companies involved in developing infrastructure like road and sewerage to ease the traffic flow,” a traffic expert from the Traffic Department told The Peninsula.
“The Department then dispatches traffic personnel in their free time, on overtime duty, at the expense of construction companies. This trend is not in Qatar but such services could be helpful,” said the expert.
The Peninsula has learnt that the development works are in an advanced stage at the Industrial Area. Many roads on Al Attiyah Street are almost ready. Traffic signals are being set up at some intersections giving a clear signal for partial opening of some roads. The new roads with multiple lanes are expected to ease the traffic jam problems.
The authorities concerned have repeatedly urged commuters to put up with the inconveniences till the opening of the new road projects.
The development project aims to upgrade the existing road network and isntall other services like sewerage, electricity and water network and lay cables of telecommunication. The major project was to build 38km road and 19 intersections to ease the traffic flow.
Upgrading the draining system is also part of the project. The drainage project includes laying down sewerage pipes and building big tanks for collecting rain water.
