Risking history: Experts unimpressed by Empress Market’s new neighbour

‘Shahabuddin Parking Plaza will help businesses’.

KARACHI:

The Empress Market is one of Karachi's most recognisable heritage sites, a historical and national landmark, and the city government has decided to build Shahabuddin Parking Plaza at its doorstep.

The Shahabuddin Market is just a small distance away from the Empress Market and houses an old fish market and a water trough that was initially meant for animals.

A 61-year-old tailor, Muhammad Ishaq, who has lived in the area all his life, said that he and his siblings used to bathe in the trough every morning. "Now the trough has disappeared and certain 'developments' have put the historical market place at risk," he said.

Expert opinion

Architect Yasmeen Lari fears that the excavation near the site would damage the structural integrity of the structure of Empress Market.

"They had wanted to remove the fish market but they changed the design of the parking plaza after people protested," said Lari.

NED University of Engineering and Technology's architecture and planning department chairperson Dr Noman Ahmed said that the civic administration has failed in its duty to protect the city's heritage. "The Sindh Heritage Foundation wanted to cancel the project but instead the administration tweaked the parking plaza's blueprint slightly," he said.

He lamented over how the city's history is being buried beneath its commercialisation. “Multi-storey buildings have been erected - a new architectural scale that conflicts with the old and that is what the Shahabuddin Parking Plaza is to the Empress Market," he said.

The other side

The plaza's project director, Muhammad Athar, refused to give in to the doom and gloom, saying that allegations of damages to the heritage site are completely baseless. "The Sindh Archaeological Department has also endorsed the parking plaza and the non-governmental organisations that are speaking out against the constructions have vested Western interests," he claimed.

Athar also negated fears of sub-soil water threatening the plaza's structure by claiming that a land assessment survey was conducted. "Since we faced objections from certain quarters, we had to stop construction and the area has had to pay the price of doing so," he said. "The project provides new jobs and opportunities since it will have three shopping floors along with a five-storey parking. Nearly half of the construction has been completed and we will soon open bids for the shops."

Karachi Metropolitan Corporation administrator Rauf Akhtar Farooqui endorsed Athar's claims and said that the plaza will help Saddar. "The plaza is a unique project that can house 600 cars and hundreds of motorcycles."

The shopkeepers

After migrating to Karachi after the partition, Salamat Ali was helped by the government to restart his grocery business besides the Empress market in the early 1950s. However, nearly half a century later, his business was relocated by the city administration. Only this time, the government's interference destroyed his business rather than helping it. However, the Shahabuddin Parking Plaza, which will host 392 shops, provides hope for Ali, who hopes to invest in a shop there, but the delays have left him restless as he hopes to reopen his business as soon as possible.

Yet another failed project?

The Shahabuddin Parking Plaza stands just a stone’s throw away from the Saddar Parking Plaza, which was built at a cost of Rs650 million. The Saddar parking plaza is bigger than the Shahabuddin Parking Plaza and boasts 11 floors and a capacity of 1,200 cars. However, it has not proved popular as people claim that it is too far away from the main markets.

The Shahabuddin plaza’s project director, Muhammad Athar, insisted a second parking plaza is required in the area. “We will need more parking spaces even after the Shahabuddin Parking Plaza is completed.” Athar did admit that the Saddar Parking Plaza can be considered a ‘failed project,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 4^th, 2014.