KARACHI - Despite a signification proof of failure in proper utilisation of already completed car parking plaza built with millions of rupees in Saddar, the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation has planned to construct yet another parking plaza near Shahabuddin Market in the City.
The KMC has failed in attracting the citizens to park their vehicles in the busiest commercial area of the City, Saddar as roads and streets in the vicinity being used as illegal vehicle parking place, showing poor management of the municipal body.
According to the officials, the 12-storey parking plaza, with eight floors for parking and two each for shops and offices, were constructed with a cost of Rs650 million on a 35,654 square feet plot some four years ago.
The KMC has failed in utilising the facility for vehicles’ parking owing to number of reasons including lack of interest by the municipal officers, illegal parking mafia who is minting money in connivance with the traffic police.
Sources in the KMC told The Nation that though the government had announced to ban all type of illegal parking the vicinity of the Saddar area, which still remained an official statement without implementing it.
Besides, the KMC had decided to start a shuttle bus service from parking plaza and Merewether Tower to facilitate the people who park their vehicles in the plaza, which is also not implemented, so far.
Besides lack of interest at the KMC level to utilise the parking plaza, the market associations of Saddar area had resisted removing the illegal parking in the area.
They argued that the step will destroy their business activities as commuters would not come to the markets because the parking facility was at distant place from the markets, sources said, adding that traffic police were also, in connivance with the illegal parking mafia, playing its part in failing this multi-million project of the City government.
The KMC administrator while highlighting the scheme said the project was initiated keeping in view the increasing number of vehicles and insufficient parking space available at the centre of the City.
According to the officials, the first phase of the project was supposed to be completed soon, hoping that currently the construction of this multi-storey car parking facility and shops were in final phase and the project would be completed within the stipulated time.
The new car parking area would accommodate 600 vehicles and hundreds of motorcycles at a time, while the vehicles can enter the plaza from Mansfield Street and exit at Daud Pota Road.