The citizens of Karachi would be able to park their vehicles free-of-charge for 15 days at the multi-storey parking plaza in Saddar from October 20 (Thursday). As the plaza received a poor response from commuters and hardly any vehicle is seen at the parking facility, the City District Government Karachi (CDGK) has decided to cancel the contract of the private party that is running it.
The city government has allowed free parking at the facility for 15 days to encourage commuters to use the plaza and also to see how they respond. A five-member committee has been formed, headed by Additional District Officer Qazi Jan Mohammad, to ensure availability of better facilities at the plaza and submit suggestions for declaring the surrounding area as a no-parking zone. These decisions were made at a meeting presided over by City District Coordination Officer (DCO) Roshan Ali Shaikh at his office on Monday. The meeting was attended by Executive District Officer Transport Ateeq Baig, district officer (DO) land management II, DO transport and additional district officer revenue.
During the meeting, the DCO was annoyed over the non-implementation of the previous decision that the CDGK would run the parking plaza itself. He directed officers to depute employees at the plaza and take measures for declaring the area surrounding the plaza as a no-parking zone. The parking plaza was developed by the CDGK usually appears deserted for a long time. According to sources, the reason for the commuters’ poor response is the lack of coordination between the traffic police and the city government as only around 40 or 50 vehicles are parked in the plaza against its capacity of 700. The parking plaza is located in Lines Area of Saddar, the city’s commercial hub, where thousands visit daily for shopping and other business activities. The site was selected for the plaza keeping in view the traffic congestion in the Saddar area. Unavailability of parking area compelled motorists to park their vehicles on important thoroughfares, streets and other corridors, causing massive traffic gridlocks on almost all linking roads of Saddar.
The plaza was built at a cost of around Rs 700 million and it expected that it would sort out the parking problems in Saddar. However, commuters hardly prefer using the plaza.
