ISLAMABAD - The Capital Development Authority (CDA) always shows "safe pair of hands" about buildings and road related problems, however, as a matter of fact it lies in "absolute poor administration" when certain issues come to surface.
CDA has taken an initiative to rid the green belts of the vehicle parking. There seems to be an absolute lack of coordination between the two departments of CDA, one issuing completion certificates to building owners, and the other responsible for the green belts.
How can CDA issue completion certificates to gigantic commercial plazas, government offices, and educational institutions with 'no parking' provisions, experts on town planning argue. They said that tThis is an irony of this country that the people at the helm of the affairs always realize after the bullet is shot.
Now since these buildings are already constructed, offices and schools operational, CDA has all of a sudden woken up to vacate the green belts which are being used by these institutions for vehicle parking purpose. What is the alternative that the CDA has offered to these institutes, they raise the question.
So another chaotic situation is surely around the corner, once these vehicles are ousted from the green belts, they will be on the already chocked roads of Islamabad especially during rush hours.
"CDA seems to have ignored the security issues connected to uncivilized parking on the roadsides," commented an official of the civic authority while speaking to this scribe on condition of anonymity.
He said that the parking lots are mostly across the roads, but after this exercise, the drivers will have the liberty to park the vehicles wherever they feel is convenient, and that could result into any untoward situation. Or there could be a constant contention between the adjacent or neighboring buildings on parking issues. If the situation is really inevitable for the CDA, then the most viable preposition would be not to take hasty decisions and should rather issue notices to all the institutions using green belts, to maintain its purity, and also pay handsome fee to the administration on monthly or annual basis.
Meanwhile, the CDA should use the collected amount on the constructions of parking plazas, however, with long-term planning in mind. The CDA should also ensure that all the buildings to be constructed in future should have their own parking areas, or else would not be eligible for the completion certificates.
At this juncture, CDA should desist from driving out the cars from the green belts on to the main roads as this exercise will surely backfire and in the process will also create havoc on the already congested roads.
Experts are of the view that government offices in Islamabad will suffer the most owing to two reasons, one, the parking of vehicles of government employees and secondly the visitors to these offices. What answer does the CDA have to tackle this problem? In case the removal of these encroachments are inevitable, then it should be across the board and without any discrimination, conclude the experts.