RAWALPINDI: After finding difficulty to force traders to allocate parking space at commercial malls and plazas, the Rawalpindi Municipal Corporation (RMC) has decided to amend its building bylaws.

A senior official of the RMC told Dawn that the owners of commercial markets and plazas did not allocate parking space in basements or in front of the premises.

He said the owners had got registered the whole land with the revenue department instead of allocating 25pc of the land for parking and registering it in the name of the state.

When the building department officials visited the shopping malls to check the documents, it transpired that the owners had registered the whole plot in their own name making it difficult for the RMC to take action against them.

The official said the building department had no option but to get the bylaws amended.

All commercial buildings at Raja Bazaar, China Market, Commercial Market, Murree Road and other areas have not transferred parking spaces to the civic body.

He said under the new law, the district revenue department would be bound to check the commercial land whether or not the owner had transferred it in the name of the civic body.

He said the amendment would soon be presented to the elected members of the municipal corporation for passage from the house.

When contacted, RMC Chief Municipal Officer Khalid Gorriya also said there was a need to amend the law to end the parking issues.

He said the revenue department had been requested to check the land documents before registering them but it sought an amendment to the bylaws.

Published in Dawn, April 21st, 2017