Parking facilities: Plaza at Moon Market to open early 2014

LPC launches drive against unregistered parking sites.

LAHORE: The Lahore Development Authority (LDA) has almost completed construction of an eight-storey commercial and parking plaza in Moon Market, Allama Iqbal Town, and it will be open for use from the first quarter of next year, a spokesman said.

Major construction work has been completed and only the finishing, including some electrical work, remains to be done on the Rs800 million structure, the LDA spokesman told APP.



The project was launched in February 2012 on the directions of Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif to address the lack of parking space at Moon Market, which is a major commercial centre. Many shoppers visiting the market end up parking their cars at the roadside, causing traffic problems.

The LDA awarded the contract for the project to a private contractor in 2012. It spent Rs550 million on the construction of the building in the last financial year, while Rs250 million was earmarked for the plaza in the budget for financial year 2013-14.

The plaza has eight floors (including a basement) and two will be reserved for shops. A total of 67 shops on the first and second floors are to be sold at auction, though the LDA has yet been unable to auction off all the shops and restaurant spaces available at the Liberty Park and Ride Plaza, which was completed some two years ago.

Management of parking facilities at the Moon Market plaza will be handed over to a private contractor. It will have space for 400 cars at any one time. The LDA spokesman said that the plaza would not just address traffic problems, but also become a reliable source of income for the authority.

Crackdown launched

The Lahore Parking Company (LPC) has launched a drive to shut down unregistered parking stands in the provincial metropolis, amidst public complaints of overcharging. A company spokesman told APP on Sunday that the LPC had lodged cases against 15 unregistered parking lots. The spokesman said that the LPC had set up 165 registered parking stands in the city at which motorcyclists were charged Rs15 each and car owners Rs20 each to park their vehicles. Tickets authorised by the LPC were issued at these parking stands, he said.



The LPC recently took over management of the parking facilities in the city from the District Office of Public Facilities. Asked about the recruitment of workers to manage these facilities, the spokesman said that the LPC had employed temporary staff at registered parking stands. They were being supervised by inspectors, managers and a general manager, he said.

He urged members of the public to come forward and report any unregistered stands to the LPC so that legal action could be initiated against those who run them.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 25^th, 2013.