Addressing traffic woes : Cantt board announces revamp of Saddar

To construct parking plazas, food and European-style pedestrian street.

RAWALPINDI: The Rawalpindi Cantonment Board (RCB) has decided to construct two to three parking plazas in Saddar to address traffic problems faced by residents and visitors.

Illegal parking in Saddar, fuelled by absence of a purpose-built parking facility, has been a source of nuisance for residents and commuters.

The decision was also taken over complaints made by the business community in the area regarding traffic problems as people preferred to visit other markets due to frequent traffic gridlocks.

The business community had also raised concerns over performance of traffic wardens, saying they choose to ignore violators rather than bringing them to book.

After the completion of the parking plaza, people will not be allowed to park their vehicles inside Saddar and the administration will ban entry of all small and big vehicles in the bazaar. A fee of Rs20 will be charged as parking fee for two hours and Rs30 for more than two hours.

RCB media coordinator Raja Muhammad Rizwan told The Express Tribune that the decisions were taken keeping in mind the problems being faced by residents, commuters and shopkeepers. The administration has also decided to establish a European-style walking street for public entertainment, he said.

Explaining the idea, Rizwan said there would be a food street and entertainment facilities for all age groups.

The RCB will also hire artists including jugglers and guitarists to entertain people, he said. The coordinator said that the administration was also working on installing clock towers and efforts were being made for beautification of the area. “The project will be completed within a year,” Rizwan said. He said that the parking facility would start functioning soon.

While talking to The Express Tribune, Saddar Cantt Traders Association President Zafar Qadri said that the RCB had allotted a place for parking the vehicles outside Faisal Bank. “The area can accommodate almost 450 vehicles at a time. The RCB has also announced concession in parking fee for shopkeepers,” he said.

Qadri said that RCB was also going to declare the area, starting from Unique Chowk to Ghakar Plaza Chowk, vehicle-free.

“This will go a long way in addressing traffic-related issues,” he remarked.

The board has also decided to open the Cantonment hospital parking for the general public to accommodate more vehicles. “There will also be a separate parking facility for motorbikes,” Qadri said.

The RCB has constructed 12 public toilets in the area, six each for females and males, he informed.

He said that the business community was happy at these developments as most of the businesses in the area were at the brink of collapse. The people hesitate to visit the market due to frequent traffic gridlocks and the business community is continuously suffering losses.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 26^th, 2015.