KARACHI, May 21: The City Nazim, Syed Mustafa Kamal, on Saturday laid the foundation stone of Pakistan's first multi-storey parking plaza in Lines Area near Saddar.

Addressing the groundbreaking ceremony, he said that besides the particular parking plaza, such facilities would be constructed at seven other locations of the city in the next months as well, including in Clifton and the PECHS.

The DCO Karachi, Fazlur Rehman, Nazim Jamshed Town Arif Ajakia, Nazim Saddar Town Muhammad Dilawar, chairman, city government Transport Committee Nadeem Hashmi and other officials were also present.

The eight-storey plaza with a capacity for parking 502 four-wheelers and 211 two-wheelers at a time will be completed in a period of eight months to one year at a cost of Rs293 million.

Its construction will help in containing parking problems at the Empress Market and its adjoining busy localities.

The city government has earmarked an amount for the project in its next fiscal budget.

To make it economically feasible, a decision has been made to build 62 shops on its ground floor, 72 shops on the mezzanine floor and 46 offices on the first floor.

The sizes of the shops will vary from 125 to 300 sq-ft and those of the offices vary from 140 to 426 sq-ft. Offices and shops will be auctioned through open bids.

Vehicles will be parked on the plaza's second, third and fourth floors, two basements and the rooftop.

Kamal said construction of the proposed parking plazas in the city had started, adding that work on seven more plazas would begin during the next two months.

In addition, another facility having a capacity of parking 2,000 vehicles was also being constructed in Saddar, he added.

He pointed out that no other city had as wide roads as Karachi, but these cities didn’t witness traffic jams as this city did. He cited the main reason for this to be lack of parking facilities.

Keeping in view the situation, the city government had planned building of multi storey parking plazas in the city.

Kamal said that the city government would run the parking plazas through private contractors. This would also help in increasing its revenue.

He said that after construction of the parking plaza, a special campaign would be launched to remove illegal parking in Saddar.—PPI