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People
think twice before going for shopping and dining out
Noor Aftab
Islamabad
People think twice before going for shopping and dining out as they
find it hard to park their vehicles. There is an acute shortage of
parking lots in almost all commercial centres of the metropolis. The
process of finding a suitable space for parking a car is all the
more difficult in sweltering heat.
The owners of shopping plazas and food outlets should have given a
thought to sparing some space for car parking while getting prepared
layout plans for multi-storey structures.
The very thought of finding out a proper parking space before
reaching any commercial centre or food outlet demoralises a motorist
and his family. A motorist has to take several rounds of the market
for a proper parking space. Most of them have no option but to park
their vehicles far away from their desired spot.
According to the Capital Development Authority (CDA) building
bye-laws, the layout plan of a commercial building, which does not
include any space for car parking, is not supposed to be approved.
But absence of such spaces in the existing commercial structures
makes one think about how things went wrong despite having clear-cut
rules and regulations.
Blue Area — the main commercial centre of the capital — exposes the
worsening situation as motorists are seen searching for a parking
space, especially on the Service Road, where personnel of the
Islamabad Traffic Police (ITP) monitor them with a ‘fleet’ of
forklifters.
The Service Road, especially between Savour Foods and Khyber Plaza,
has no space for car parking. Sometimes motorists have no option but
to park their vehicles half a mile away from their desired food
outlet.
“We come to Blue Area to eat good food, but the parking problem is
much too much for us,” said Mushtaq Kiani, who came along with his
wife and three children. He said that the parking problem is not new
in Blue Area, as the situation has been getting worse with each
passing day for the last many years. “The authorities should find
out a viable solution to this problem to facilitate the visitors,”
he said.
The concerned authorities are believed to be pursuing a plan to
construct multi-storey parking plazas at three points in Blue Area,
including one near Muslim Commercial Bank Limited, another near
Savour Foods and the third near a mosque located at a distance.
Those who visit Aabpara Market — the oldest commercial centre in
Islamabad — in the evening find no space except for roadsides where
they can park their vehicles. Not all of them are lucky enough
because during peak hours many motorists are seen leaving for
another destination after their failure in finding any parking space
even at roadsides.
The News :Wednesday, May 27, 2009
“It is really difficult to park a vehicle and then drive it out on
return as speeding vehicles are always there posing a grave danger,”
said Riaz Akhtar, who had parked his vehicle at roadside in Aabpara
Market.
He said that there is some space available on the other side of the
market but it is not advisable to park vehicles there, keeping in
view the sharp increase in vehicle thefts.
The same problem prevails at Jinnah Super Market. Most of the
parking spaces along roads are occupied by vehicles belonging to
shopkeepers that remain there from morning till late evening.
Other commercial centres like Markaz G-9 (Karachi Company), Markaz
G-10 and Super Market are also trouble spots for motorists.
“It is impossible to develop car parking areas in the existing
commercial plazas. So car parking plazas should be constructed in
major markets of the city,” said a motorist. |
