Corruption plagues charged parking system
Rates of charged parking displayed on the official board placed in the busy Saddar Bazaar are not followed by the contractors. Photo: Jalal Qureshi/Express
Where the diligent regulation of public facilities and correct utilisation of their generated revenue is indispensable to the healthy functioning of any urban society, the pervasive nature of corruption in the charged parking system in Karachi, bedevils both citizens and the local economy.
Despite the paid parking system in the port city acting as a means of generating much needed revenue for the provincial departments including the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC), widespread corruption and negligence on part of the concerned departments, means that not only does a sizeable amount of the collected revenue reach the hands of illegal shareholders but the complicity of the traffic regulators allows illegal parking to become a common nuisance for citizens.
“The traffic police are very eager to lift wrongly parked cars in some areas of the city but in many other areas they allow illegal parking,” called out Ghulam Hussain, a local.
According to sources, illegal parking has become extremely common in many popular areas across Karachi including the District South and Sadar, which have a number of government offices, banks, hospitals and shopping centres located in the area, largely due to the police’s complicity, which instigates gridlocks on a daily basis.
“We had made efforts to remove parking encroachments from these areas, but they continue to happen on a daily basis since they are supervised by private contractors,” claimed Ahmed Nawaz, Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Traffic Police.
Nawaz’s speculation is supported by a report from the Auditor General of Pakistan which reveals that Karachi’s annual target of revenue collection from charged parking is rarely if ever met since officers of the local government frequently give illegal contracts of charged parking to private contractors for measly rates due to personal affinities.
To illustrate further: for the fiscal years 2015 to 2018 the KMC had fixed a target of Rs 160 million from charged parking but only earned Rs 122 million.
Similarly, during the 2017-18 fiscal year there was a target of collecting Rs 10 million, but the concerned authorities failed to reach that target also.
Reportedly, the Karachi Development Authority (KDA) approved two contracts at exceptionally low rates to contractors in busy business centres like Clifton and Korangi. KDA gave a contract of the Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Park in Clifton to a contractor for six months for Rs 120,000 only while the six-month contract for parking in Korangi in front of the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) office was given to a contractor for Rs 60,000 only.
The fact that a number of departments including the Cantonment Board and Competitive and Livable City (CLICK) are also legal shareholders in the income generated by charged parking, further diminishes the annual income in the provincial treasury which could otherwise have amounted to millions of rupees.
Speaking to the Express Tribune on the matter, Najmi Alam, the parliamentary leader of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) in the City Council said, “there are many complaints of corruption regarding charged parking in Karachi which will be resolved soon. Under the leadership of the Mayor of Karachi, the newly elected leadership of the local government is working on ways to regulate the collection of revenue through charged parking.”
Published in The Express Tribune, July 29th, 2023.