In order to address the growing concerns about car parking in the garrison city, the Rawalpindi commissioner has devised a plan which will include the construction of three extra floors on the parking plaza at Fawara Chowk, the establishment of a new parking site and the restoration of the free-parking facility in the basement of 38 big plazas.
Sources said cases will be registered against those who do not restore the approved parking spaces and the plazas will be sealed.
According to sources, Rawalpindi Commissioner Liaquat Ali Chattha took notice of the traffic woes due to the intensifying problem of parking on the streets connected to the inner city, Murree Road, Commercial Market and other well-known business centres and deteriorating cleanliness situation in the city, causing immense difficulties for the pedestrians.
According to the plan, in the only parking plaza of Rawalpindi Development Authority at Fawara Chowk, from whose basement shelter home has been removed and its basement, ground and first floors have been restored for parking space, three more floors will be constructed to make it the largest parking facility in the neighbourhood and illegal parking spaces on Liaquat Road, Iqbal Road, Jinnah Road, Ganj Mandi, Kashmiri Bazar and Raja Bazar roads can be eliminated.
The commissioner has written a letter to the Auqaf Department to acquire land on Ghazni Road for establishing a new parking site while another open parking site has been set up on the plot of the former municipal corporation office. Further, the public park adjacent to the commercial market has also been converted into an open parking lot.
A parking plaza is also planned to be constructed on one more parking site available in the Commercial Market while a plan has been prepared to demolish the ancient Bani market and construct a spacious parking plaza in Bani Chowk.
Chattha said that the problem of parking in the city has intensified, hence a plan has been prepared to resolve it.
“The Rawalpindi Municipal Corporation has traced these 38 big plazas in the first phase where shops were constructed despite basements being approved for free public parking,” he said.
“Notices have been issued to the owners of all 38 plazas to restore the basement parking of the plazas without delay, otherwise the said plazas will be sealed apart from filing cases against them,” he added.
Meanwhile, to solve the problem of parking in the inner city, the practice of lifting illegally parked vehicles on all roads by lifters and returning the vehicle after paying a heavy fine has also been implemented which will be fully implemented after Eid, the commissioner said.
“Parking will be allowed only on those streets of the city where sites have been allocated for parking. Apart from these, those who park on other roads will be fined. Regular parking fees have been fixed at notified on-street parking sites,” he added.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 18th, 2023.
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