Parking plaza plans stalled amid investment woes

Despite growing need for parking to ease congestion, no viable solutions have been found

RAWALPINDI:

Authorities have put all proposed parking plaza projects on hold in Rawalpindi city and cantonment due to a lack of available financial resources and their failure to attract investors under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) and Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) models.

These projects were planned on the Rawalpindi Municipal Corporation (RMC)-owned land, with four parking plazas intended to be constructed in various locations across the city. Proposals were also under consideration for two parking plazas on sites connected to Haider Road, Mall Road, and Haider Road Bank Road in the cantonment area.

The Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) also owns an incomplete parking plaza at Fawara Chowk in Raja Bazaar, which consists of a basement, ground floor, and first floor, but construction of the additional three parking floors has been delayed for the past 15 years. According to the Director-General of RDA, Kinza Murtaza, there has been no decision made yet to complete this plaza.

The increasing traffic congestion on streets in the cantonment, particularly around the busiest commercial areas like Bank Road, and the resultant issues in other areas such as Haider Road, Kashmir Road, King Road, and Adamjee Road, have exacerbated the situation. To address the issue, parking plazas were proposed at the Pothohar One and Pothohar Two parking stands.

Rashid Saqib, a spokesman for the Rawalpindi Cantonment Board (RCB), says these locations are on A1 land and are not owned by the Board, preventing construction of parking plazas there. However, open-ground and time-based charge parking exists in these areas.

The RMC has four sites—Jinnah Road's former municipal office, Bani Chowk Market, Commercial Market near the former Children's Park, and the Commercial Market near the Fire Brigade Site—where parking plazas were proposed under the PPP and BOT models. These plans have long been under review by the municipal corporation but were also shelved after no private party expressed interest in investing.

Rafaqat Gondal, an infrastructure officer with the RMC, confirmed that no private party is willing to invest in these parking plazas despite various attempts. He acknowledged that these parking facilities are a critical need for the city. The absence of parking plazas and any viable plans for their development has led to a severe parking crisis.

Major roads such as Liaquat Road, Jinnah Road, Kashmiri Bazaar, Gunjmandi Road, Circular Road, Sayedpur Road, Jama Masjid Road, Bagh Sardaran Road, Asghar Mall Road, and even Murree Road are suffering from widespread illegal parking on both sides, which has further compounded traffic congestion. This issue is also affecting key business areas in both Rawalpindi and Chaklala Cantt, where the parking system has entirely broken down.