Urban spaces: This year find parking space easily

‘Almost 36 parking lots will be handed over to contractors by the end of January’.

LAHORE:

Lahore Parking Company is planning to install large screens at the entrance to Liberty Market which will provide a live display of available parking spaces at the market’s parking lot, LPC Managing Director Taseer Ahmad said.

Parking spaces and traffic flow are reviewed every few months to assess parking requirements in the city, Ahmad said.  “Parking lots found to be hindering traffic flow are then reviewed and remodelled.”

He said the Lahore Electric Supply Company was delaying the issuance of electronic meters for parking lots required to install automation devices, without which contractors cannot take charge of parking lots. He said the LPC had handed over 23 parking lots in the city to a contractor so far. “By the end of January, almost 36 parking lots will be handed over to a joint venture of two major companies and a local company.”

The LPC director said a joint venture led by ACGN, a Saudi Arabian company, had purchased all the technology required to automate parking lots. This technology is being used in Pakistan for the first time which is why there are a few initial glitches, he said.

Traffic flow and the parking situation on The Mall have improved greatly since parking spaces there were handed over to the contractor, he said.



LPC has drafted bylaws which will empower its workers to issue violation tickets to drivers violating parking laws.  Once these drafted bylaws are ratified by the provincial government, the company will be empowered to take punitive measures against anyone hindering parking operations, he said. “The situation will improve greatly.”

The company has also requested the government to approve private plots to develop parking areas near major markets. These lots will be established as exclusive parking areas for traders in those markets. The contractor has also trained its workers to handle the increasing load of vehicles in parking lots.

Officials of the LPC said considering the security situation, foreign companies working with the company had expressed reservations in installing equipment worth millions of rupees on the roads.

In 2014, Lahore witnessed massive infrastructure development. Roads were widened, flyovers and underpasses were built and several new pathways are being planned. To manage the increased traffic flow, LPC had signed two mega corporations, AGCN and Zhongxing Telecommunication Equipment Corporation, a Chinese company, to take over parking spaces in the city. Yet only 23 parking lots of the 240 parking lots in the city have been handed over to these companies in 10 months. Over 800 LPC workers manage the rest of the parking lots.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 1^st, 2015.