KARACHI, Jan 23: Demolition of about 700 shops at the Shahabuddin Market, adjacent to the Empress Market, in Saddar was started on Wednesday to facilitate construction of a parking plaza on the retrieved land.

The affected shopkeepers have already been provided alternative shops in a temporary market built nearby.

The construction in the first phase will be restricted to one acre and in the next phase, shopkeepers of the adjoining Umer Farooq Market will be shifted to the newly built market to retrieve another two acres.

Under the parking plaza plan, all the 1,722 shopkeepers dislocated temporarily are to be given matching shops in the parking plaza. The five-storey parking plaza will have a capacity of 2,200 vehicles and the cost of its construction has been estimated at Rs1 billion.—APP