Parking plaza auctioned

RAWALPINDI:

The development authority of Rawalpindi on Monday auctioned two floors of the parking plaza built near Fawwara Chowk for two years for Rs30.2 million.

The Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) on Monday held an open auction for the parking plaza.

The reserve price for the auction was set at Rs10.46 million.

Naeem and Co tabled the highest, uncontested bid at Rs30.2 million and were subsequently awarded the contract, provided they clear all other liabilities and formalities.

The authority said that while the contract has been awarded for two years, the contractor will be bound to pay 10 per cent more for the second year.

The Fawwara Chowk parking plaza is located at a prime intersection of the city with at least ten commercial markets, including Raja and Bara bazaars - among the largest markets in the city - located nearby.

It is the only government-owned parking plaza in the city and was built to help reduce parking problems in the most congested part of the city.

After it came into power, the incumbent Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government allocated the basement of the parking plaza for its shelter home - a panahgah. This effectively reduced the parking capacity of the plaza.

However, the ground and first floors of the building will now be used for parking and can accommodate more than 2,000 vehicles.

The auction is expected to generate substantial revenues for RDA.

Officials said that the plaza had been auctioned after irregularities were detected in the automated ticketing system which had been installed at the parking site.

RDA Director General (DG) Ammara Khan had subsequently ordered the auction of two floors of the parking plaza to turn the structure into a source of revenue and to resolve parking issues at the site.

Meanwhile, the authority has yet to act upon plans to add floors to the parking building. The plaza was originally planned to have six-storeys.

The incumbent government has failed, for the past couple of years, to spur the project and it was not included in the annual development programmes (ADPs).

Meanwhile, the Rawalpindi Metropolitan Municipal Corporation (RMMC) has also hired consultants for the preparation of consultancy reports for three more parking plazas near busy marketplaces, including Jinnah Road, Bani Chowk, and Commercial Market.

Regular visitors to the markets have expressed happiness at the development as they believe that a proper parking space in the city centre will help in the mitigation of traffic problems along with ensuring the safety of vehicles.

RMMC employees end strike

Employees of the Rawalpindi Metropolitan Municipal Corporation (RMMC) on Monday ended their three-day-long strike against the arrest of their employees by the Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU).

The strike came to an end after a dialogue between Rawalpindi Commissioner and RMMC Administrator Muhammad Mehmood and representatives of the corporation’s workers - led by Municipal Workers League CBA President Haji Farooq.

Union members told the commissioner that a first information report (FIR) was registered in ACU in 2014 over corruption charges.

They added that the ACU recovered around 80 per cent of the sum, arrested four RMMC employees while the recovery process for the remaining 20 per cent is underway.

The union officials said that they did not believe in supporting corrupt officials but action on unsubstantiated accusations was baseless.

The commissioner assured the delegation that there would be no injustice with any of RMMC employees in the future after which the union decided to call off the strike.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 3^rd, 2020.