98% of vehicles are parked for 8 hours

KARACHI: Statistics show that 98 percent of Karachi’s 1.7 million road-plying vehicles are parked for an average of eight hours a day and many of them, both private and commercial, are parked on roads and streets.

A well-placed official in the CDGK told Daily Times on Monday that migration to the city, an increasing population, and easy leasing combined to put a heavy load on the city’s 11 sites reserved for parking. This results in illegal encroachment of land by transporters, coupled with the involvement of the traffic police and the lack of proper planning by the competent authorities.

Parking on the street accounts for 70 percent of all parking and 24 percent of parking is done on walking spaces or encroached land. Four percent is on privately-owned land, often associated with buildings while the remaining two percent of parking is controlled by the CDGK at 11 parking sites, auctioned to private contractors for a year.

The auctioning generated Rs 90 million in 2005 and Rs 11,928,000 in 2007-08, while bids for 2008-09 amount to Rs 15,409,000.

In Saddar, the total well-arranged parking capacity is for 1,799 vehicles at a time, but on average 22,724 vehicles are being parked, including on the street. Tariq Road has a parking capacity for 630 vehicles but 12,394 vehicles are being parked there.

The CDGK has opted to construct eight multi-storied parking plazas, of which one, the Lines Area plaza, near Saddar Dawa Khana, is being completed at a cost of Rs 293 million, with a capacity of 710 cars and 300 motorcycles, said the official. One near the KPT underpass, spread over 2,932 square yards, with a capacity of 500 cars and 100 motorcycles, will cost Rs 225 million. Tenders for two more plazas have been invited, one at Civic Centre for 679 cars and 300 motorcycles, estimated at Rs 264 million, and the other near Empress Market for 1,980 cars and 220 motorcycles, estimated at Rs 1.6 billion.

An underground plaza under construction on Dr Ziauddin Ahmed Road will house 600 vehicles, while a project is under study at Jheel Park near Tariq Road for 3,000 vehicles. Work has been suspended on two plazas, one at Railway Stadium on I.I. Chundrigar Road and the other opposite the Stock Exchange Building at Merewether Tower, each for 3,000 cars, due to a failure to obtain possession of the required land from Pakistan Railways.

CDGK EDO Transport Badar Jamil Mendro said that different mafias in the city have encroached on land because of the negligence or involvement of the authorities concerned.

Work on inner city railway yet to begin: Plans for a Light Rapid Rail Mass Transit System (LRRMTS), studied by the World Bank in 1990, have yet to see the light of day, despite federal approval in 2004, well-placed officers in the City District Government Karachi’s (CDGK) Mass Transit Cell revealed to Daily Times, adding that the lack of interest by federal and provincial governments has made this an orphaned project.

The officer explained that there are two main routes planned for the inner city railway. Corridor I is from Sohrab Goth to Merewether Tower, covering 18 km at a cost of US$ 350 million, while Corridor II will cover 17 km from Orangi Town to Cantt Station and will cost US$ 300 million.

The project has come under fire from various social and political factions and the building of colonies not included in the initial plan has made things worse.

The LRRMTS is capable of lowering traffic congestion in Karachi by 50 percent and will open numerous doors for revenue generation for the Sindh government and provide livelihood for more than 5,000 families, noted the officer.

The project can be operational within three years and is expected to generate up to Rs 2 billion in direct income from fares and indirect income from the establishment of over 500 retail outlets, tuck shops, restaurants and other small establishments associated with the system.

Unfortunately, no authority has been given the responsibility of clearing the land for the projects, which seems to be one of the bigger hurdles in the way. Karachi Port Trust, Pakistan Railways (PR), Evacuee Property Trust and some private parties are the primary landowners concerned. These areas have been grossly encroached and slums with legal gas, power and water connections are widely spread there. The land mafia, with the help of the area police and some officials have taken over the land, explained the sources.

With a capacity of over 70,000 passengers per trip per hour, the LRRMTS looks like the only logical solution to traffic congestion in the city.