Parking plaza functional again; or so they claim

Last week, the KMC had announced having renovated the structure; The Express Tribune decided to see for itself

KARACHI:

The Karachi Metropolitan Corporation's (KMC) parking plaza in Lines Area is functional again. No one seems to know what that means. When did it stop functioning? What have they done to revive it? Is it serving its purpose now? There are no clear answers.

Enter the seven-storey structure at your own risk. Once you have dodged the cobwebs, the cracked walls with rusty iron rods protruding out of them and the dust that seems to cling on the walls and floor, you will find yourself on the staircase that is meant to provide access to the upper floors. It has no supporting wall. Taking the stairs is pointless too as they are shut at the exit. No, you may not use the elevator for it is still non-functional. A single ramp caters to traffic moving in and out of the plaza. This is the sight of the parking plaza that the KMC has announced having renovated.

The KMC, last Thursday, issued a press statement, claiming to have made the Lines Area Parking Plaza functional as an alternative parking lot by providing a free shuttle service from the plaza to different parts of Saddar.

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The management of the parking plaza has also been shifted to the Transport and Communication Department from the KMC's Charged Parking Department as directed by the administrator, Sajjad Hussain Abbasi. The statement adds that the parking plaza has been renovated and a waiting room, a prayer area and clean bathrooms have been established.

The additional director for transport and communication, Ahsan Shahid, told The Express Tribune that after parking the car, the driver must walk down the two-way ramp to reach the ground level. "The stairs leading to the exit gate have been closed due to security reasons and the elevator is being repaired," he said.

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When asked how many vehicles were usually parked at the plaza, he said that hardly 20 cars had accessed the plaza since morning. The parking plaza, according to him, has been operational since 2009. It has seven floors, two of which are underground, and has room for around 650 vehicles at a time. A total of 54 CCTV cameras are being installed throughout the plaza.

Parking Fees

The parking fee varies with the type of vehicle and the duration of its stay. For motorcycles, the charge is Rs10 for two hours and Rs20 for any further time. "For cars, it is Rs20 for two hours and Rs40 beyond that," explained Shahid. Parking facilities for Mazda and Shehzore trucks are also available at the plaza for which the charge is Rs50 for two hours and Rs70 beyond that. The fee for parking a rickshaw is Rs30.

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Saddar parking

The KMC had announced that parking would not be allowed at any site along the route of the shuttle service. On the contrary, the whole of Saddar is virtually a parking zone.

Amid the scores of vehicles parked near Empress Market clogging the traffic completely, one of the charged parking collectors told The Express Tribune that no traffic police official came to remove the parked vehicles. "Even if they came, they wouldn't be able to," he said.

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Meanwhile, a traffic police constable, Ashraf, who was trying to manage the traffic in Saddar, said they had no orders to remove the parked vehicles yet.

For his part, the KMC's charged parking director, Mehmood Hassan, said that approved parking in Saddar would be allowed, even if it was located on the route of the shuttle service. He added that action against illegal parking was not easy as it had become a mafia. "However, I'll make sure there is no parking in two or three lanes," he said, adding that he has also written to the South deputy commissioner regarding the matter.

Empty shuttles

The free shuttle service is being provided on two routes after brief intervals to various markets of Saddar. One runs between the Parking Plaza to Zainab Market Chowk via Empress Market and Singer Chowk while the other runs between the Parking Plaza and Electronic Market via Empress Market and GPO Chowk.

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However, according to one of the drivers of the shuttle, Alla Bux, hardly any passenger sits in the shuttle. He said that from morning until 6pm, he had not made more than two rounds and that too, when the staff had insisted him. "All day long, we sit in the shuttle waiting for passengers, but people are not even ready to avail this free service," he lamented.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 20^th, 2015.