ISLAMABAD: Blue Area, the main commercial hub of the capital, is facing problems due to shrinking parking space.

As per the master plan for the area, six parking plazas were to be constructed for Blue Area and sites were identified for these, but no effort was ever made to make these parking spaces.

Sources in the Capital Development Authority (CDA) said six multi-level plazas are part of the original design for Blue Area and that the sites identified are unutilised.

Six parking plazas were to be constructed for Blue Area, sites for which were identified in original plan

They said these plazas were to cater to traffic from both sides so that the ground floor would be used for cars coming from the Fazl-i-Haq Road side and floors above for traffic from main service roads towards Jinnah Avenue.

A resident of the city, Asad Khan suggested commercial plaza owners should be required to reserve their basements for parking and that the CDA should construct paid parking plazas if it is facing financial issues.

All Traders Welfare Association Blue Area President Yousaf Rajput said citizens and traders in the area are facing problems due to the shortage of parking space and that traders have taken the issue up with the CDA many times.

“We are facing losses in business due to the shortage of parking space,” he said, adding that even though the government earns huge revenue from taxes collected from Blue Area traders, it does not pay attention to their problems.

He said that instead of resolving the parking issue, the government established a National Database and Registration Authority office in the area, which attracts a lot of people, worsening the parking problem.

CDA officials also said the office should have been established in Mauve Area where most government buildings are.

CDA spokesperson Syed Safdar Ali said the civic authority will look into the parking issue in Blue Area and that in its plan the authority has already marked several sites for parking plazas. He said it will look into their construction subject to the availability of funds.

In 2016, the Islamabad Traffic Police had written to the CDA regarding the shortage of parking spaces in Blue Area and other commercial centres in the city, including the F-8 Markaz which houses the city’s district courts.

SSP Traffic Police Farrukh Rasheed told Dawn the traffic problem is the worst in F-8, Blue Area and H-9 outside the Excise and Taxation Office due to shortage of parking space. He suggested parking plazas and a pay-and-display system for Blue Area as well as making the commercial hub one way. He advised underground parking for F-8 and said the traffic police are trying to direct traffic in H-9 as there are no available parking spaces nearby.

There are also no designated parking spaces for metro bus stations in the capital city.

The CDA had decided to construct five park-and-ride plazas a few years ago, but the plan has yet to materialise. CDA officials said the civic agency’s board had in 2015 approved the project as well.

However, according to the board summary, the lower, ground and first floors of the multi-storey parking plazas were to be used for commercial purposes and the rest for parking.

According to the board decision, the plazas were to be constructed with the metro bus stations at Katcheri, F-8/G-8, Pims Hospital, Stock Exchange, Parade Ground etc.

Published in Dawn, October 10th, 2018