Rawalpindi Cantt planning to introduce paid parking in Saddar

Traders say cantonment board approving commercial plazas without parking facilities

RAWALPINDI:

Rawalpindi Cantonment Board (RCB) is planning to introduce parking fee in Saddar market in a bid to address the parking issue in the city’s business hub.

Currently, there are no specified parking lots and vehicles and motorcycles parked along the roads often result in traffic snarl-ups, particularly during rush hours.



The situation is particularly bad on Bank Road, Kashmir Road, Haider Road, Canning Road, Mahfooz Road, Kamran Market, Chotta Bazaar, Babu Mohalla, and Kabari Bazaar.

Traders and visitors say the traffic police and the cantonment authorities have failed to resolve the problem over the years.

RCB has started a food street on Bank Road in Saddar at the coast of Rs22.5 million. The board, however, has overlooked the major issue of parking in Saddar.

It announced the construction of three parking plazas to end parking issues, but could not start the project due to its own financial woes.

The cantonment board, however, is now planning to introduce paid parking on Bank Road, which is the main road in the market. RCB Media Coordinator Qaisar Mahmood said the board would hire a contractor to collect the parking fees.

Though the RCB has taken several steps to regulate traffic flow and facilitate visitors over the years, such as allowing only one-way traffic on Bank Road and declaring a section of the road vehicle-free, it has failed to find a permanent solution to the issue.



“RCB’s decision to allow one-way traffic on Bank Road, declaring the road vehicle-free from Unique Bakery intersection to Gakhar Plaza, and providing a parking facility on Haider Road have not addressed the issue”, said Zafar Qadri, who is general secretary of the Markazi Anjuman-e-Tajran Cantonment.

Qadri said that the RCB authorities needed to work out a permanent solution like building parking plaza as the civic agencies in Rawalpindi and Islamabad have done.

An RCB official, however, said that board lacked funds to build a parking plaza.

He said the board should not approve commercial buildings without parking facilities. He said the Mall Plaza, owned by the RCB, has not parking lot.



Traders association leader said currently a vacant plot on Haider Road was being used as a makeshift parking lot. He, however, said it was not enough for the whole Saddar bazar.

“RCB awarded a parking contract for motorcycles near Singapore Plaza. The contractor, however, also started collecting fees from vehicles parked on Bank Road and in a vacant plot opposite Flashman’s Hotel,” Qadri said.

Board’s media coordinator said they had also received complaints against the contractor and therefore were working to hire a new contractor who would collect parking fee from all vehicles parked on Bank Road.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 27^th, 2016.