The National Highways and Motorway Police (NHMP) has planned to introduce the Intelligent Transport System (ITS) on motorways M1, M2, M3, and M4 in the next two years. Talking to APP here on Thursday, an official of NHMP said that the Motorway Police had signed an agreement with the Frontier Works Organization (FWO) through the National Highway Authority to implement the ITS on various motorways including M1, M2, M3, and M4 over the next two years. He said that with this new system, commuters would no longer be stopped unnecessarily on the motorway. He said that the Lahore-Sialkot motorway had adopted a completely humanless system and the road users on this motorway will not be stopped for challan payment but will be required to pay the challan along with the toll tax when they exit the motorway.
The official informed that in developed countries the ITS system was designed to send challans to offenders after they have left the road, but in Pakistan, there are several hurdles to overcome. For instance, he said one vehicle was often used by multiple family members, making it difficult to identify to whom the challan should be issued to. Additionally, he said many people use unregistered vehicles with open letters, making it hard to enforce the ITS system and send challans to their homes. The implementation of the ITS system requires a strong database to ensure accurate and efficient enforcement, he maintained. He affirmed that despite challenges, the ITS system marks a significant milestone in the NHMP’s efforts to modernise its services. He stated that currently, road users can pay the ‘challan’ [ticket] along with the toll tax, and in the coming years, the ITS system was set to revolutionize the way challans are issued and enforced on Pakistan’s national highways and motorways.
