Delayed projects fuel traffic chaos

Illegal roadside parking, insufficient capacity leave traffic management in disarray

RAWALPINDI:

Inordinate delay in constructing proposed parking plazas in the commercial and cantonment areas and Leh Express – an alternate route for traffic – in Rawalpindi has worsened the everyday traffic flow, leaving people from all walks of life in the lurch.

Despite the increasing traffic pressure over the years, the project for an alternate traffic route -- Leh Expressway -- and the construction of five parking plazas has fallen victim to 'red tape'.

The traffic flow in the commercial area including the main thoroughfare of the city and cantonment is badly affected as the responsible institutions including the Rawalpindi Cantonment Board (RCB) have failed to construct the proposed parking plazas at five designated sites in the past 30 years.

Meanwhile, the city's only incomplete parking plaza at Fawara Chowk also remains insufficient due to the non-construction of its additional three floors, further exacerbating the lack of parking capacity. In the absence of parking plazas, the traffic pressure has thrown the traffic management system in the garrison city into complete disarray.

Sources say no serious efforts have been made to construct parking plazas in different areas of the city in the wake of the growing population and the increase in the number of vehicles. Most-hit commercial areas include Saddar, Peshawar Road, and inner Cantt areas such as Range Road, RA Bazaar, Allama Iqbal Colony, Abid Majeed Road, Dhok Syedan Road, Tench Bhatta, Kamalabad, and others.

The crisis extends to the city's main roads, including Murree Road, Liaquat Road, Iqbal Road, Saddar City Road, Raja Bazaar, Jamia Masjid Road, Circular Road, Saidpur Road, Kohati Bazaar, Asghar Mall Road, and areas like Commercial Market, Satellite Town, Sadiqabad, Double Road, Muslim Town, and Pandora.

To deal with this alarming situation, in the first phase in 2005, an alternative route of the Leh Expressway was laid from Rawalpindi to Islamabad for the traffic coming from other areas to Murree Road. It was decided to adopt it, however, the work on this project was halted and later terminated in 2008 at the initial stage.

In the last twenty-five years, the Municipal Corporation (MC) presented plans to construct three large parking plazas at three locations, including the former office of the MC on Saddar City Road, the market at Bani Chowk and a site at the Commercial Market, to every succeeding government. However, the construction of the parking plaza could not be started at any of the sites, for which the MC always waited to receive funds from the government instead of its own resources.

Around 15 years ago, the city's first parking plaza was constructed by the Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) on the spacious site of the former Tonga Stand in Fawara Chowk, Raja Bazaar -- the busiest business hub of the city. Although the basement, ground floor, and first floor were completed, plans for three additional floors remained unfulfilled.

When contacted, RDA Director General Kinza Murtaza said that the issue of constructing more floors of the said parking plaza is no longer under consideration, but serious consideration is being given to constructing parking plazas on other sites because of the increasing traffic pressure in the city. "The only way to eliminate illegal parking on the roads is to construct multi-storey parking plazas."

Regarding the proposed project of the construction of three parking plazas, sources in the MC say that progress on the proposed parking projects will be possible only when the Punjab government approves and provides funds for it.

On the other hand, while work is ongoing on the underground cabling beautification and upgradation project worth Rs2 billion in the Saddar Commercial Area, Bank Road has been completely converted into a walking street, while two parking sites are being provided for vehicles coming on Bank Road along with vehicles coming on other roads including Haider Road.

The parking capacity of Pothohar 1 connected to the road and Pothohar 2 connected to Haider Road Mall is so limited that the increasing parking on the roadsides of the Saddar Commercial Area including Mall Road, Kashmir Road, Haider Road, Adamji Road, King Road, Police Station Road, Hathi Chowk, Chhota Bazar, Koila Center, Railway Road, Mitho Khan Complex and other places has disrupted the traffic system. Whereas, if eight to 10-storey parking plazas are constructed at both the parking sites -- Pothohar 1 and Pothohar 2, the current worst parking situation in the Saddar Commercial Area could have been avoided.

RCB spokesperson Rashid Saqib says parking is a big problem which the Cantonment authorities are considering to solve. In this regard, other options including the construction of parking plazas are also being considered, he adds.