Karachi:Agonising traffic jams almost on daily basis have become a perpetual nuisance for the Karachiites and the megacity needs AI-powered traffic management to unclog its arteries, said Pasban Democratic Party (PDP) Chairman Altaf Shakoor on Saturday.

Altaf Shakoor said adaptive signals, an integrated command centre, drone monitoring, and real-time enforcement are a must to save the citizens from prolonged road jams.

He said Karachi’s roads are its arteries, and they are clogged. For years, citizens have been promised modern systems, yet signals remain manual or fixed-time, enforcement is fragmented across multiple agencies, and commuters lose hours every day to avoidable gridlock. The solution is not another study, another seminar, or another vague assurance. It is AI-powered traffic management, he said.

He said the government claims to bring improvement, but the ground reality remains unchanged: chronic congestion, broken signals, illegal parking, encroachments, wrong-way driving, and missing emergency corridors.

He said Karachi does not need announcements. It needs a functioning technology on its roads.

He said the current system is fragmented among the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation, Traffic ,Police, Safe City Authority, Commissioner’s Office, and district administrations. Signals are often manually controlled. Camera data is not fully integrated. There is no single command centre making real-time decisions for the city. This is not only a resource problem – it is a governance and coordination failure.

Modern tools already exist: AI traffic signals, IoT sensors, digital twins, predictive analytics, V2I communication, drone monitoring, and integrated command platforms, he said. Other cities use them. Karachi deserves the same.

He said what is missing is not technology. It is political will, administrative coordination, and respect for citizens’ time.

He demanded AI-powered adaptive traffic signals at all major intersections, replacing fixed-time and manual signals with systems that adjust in real time to vehicle volume.

He said a Central Integrated Traffic Management and Command Centre should be established linking CCTV, sensors, Safe City cameras, traffic police, ambulances, and public transport into one operating picture.

Altaf Shakoor said automated enforcement through ANPR and AI cameras for red-light jumping, over-speeding, wrong-way driving, helmet violations, and illegal parking – with transparent e-challan systems is a must.

He said drone and aerial surveillance are necessary for hotspot monitoring, illegal parking, and emergency response, especially in Saddar, Tariq Road, Rashid Minhas Road, and commercial areas.

He said smart parking and anti-encroachment systems using sensors and mobile enforcement units should be used to clear footpaths, service lanes, and main arteries.

Real-time traffic data sharing with Google Maps, Waze, and public dashboards is necessary so commuters can make informed decisions, he said.

He also asked for emergency and public transport priority – signal preemption for ambulances, fire brigades, and buses, with Intelligent Transport Systems on People’s Bus Service and EV taxi services.

PDP Chairman said a unified Karachi Traffic Management Authority is necessary to end the current fragmentation and fix accountability for signal timing, road markings, intersection design, and enforcement.

He asked for 90-day pilot corridors on Shahrah-e-Faisal, I.I. Chundrigar Road, M.A. Jinnah Road, University Road, Korangi Road, and Rashid Minhas Road – with published results before city-wide scaling.

A public accountability dashboard showing average commute times, signal uptime, violation rates, accident data, and enforcement outcomes is also a must, he suggested.

We are not asking for another seminar, another study tour, or another vague promise, he said. ‘We are demanding a time-bound, technology-first traffic plan with public KPIs.”

Karachi’s traffic chaos is costing billions in fuel, productivity, and health – and it is costing lives, he said. AI-powered traffic management is, thus, not a luxury. It is a necessity for a megacity of over 20 million people.

If authorities fail to act, we will pursue Right to Information requests, public awareness campaigns, and civic mobilization to ensure that Karachi’s traffic crisis is treated as an emergency, not a routine inconvenience, he said.

We call on the Sindh Government, Chief Minister’s Office, Minister for Local Government, Commissioner Karachi, KMC, Karachi Traffic Police, and Safe City Authority to present a 90-day action plan within two weeks and begin pilot implementation immediately, he said.

Karachi’s arteries are clogged. AI can clear them. The time for action is now, he concluded.