Rawalpindi: RDA all set for parking plaza project at Fowara Chowk, Raja Bazaar

[Naveed Yaseen]

Rs 1.5bn parking plaza project in Feb
* Five-storey plaza to have capacity for 1,000 vehicles
* Bus terminal to be set up on first floor to ease traffic in area

By Aamir Yasin

RAWALPINDI: Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) has finalised all arrangements to start Rs 1.5 billion worth of multi-tower parking plaza project at , by next month, sources told Daily Times on Tuesday.

They said NESPAK after completing design of the plaza had handed it over to RDA, which would start construction work in February at vans stand near Fowara Chowk to ease traffic flow in and around Raja Bazaar.

They said the parking plaza would be earthquake proof to avoid any untoward situation in the commercial hub of the city.

They said total area of the parking plaza would be four kannals and RDA would construct five-storey plaza having a capacity to park at least 1,000 vehicles including two-wheelers and four-wheelers on daily basis.

They said RDA had also planned to establish bus terminal on the ground floor to ease the traffic congestion on the main roads at Raja bazaar.

They said there was a dire need for the construction of a parking plaza in the downtown as vehicles were often seen parked on roads creating traffic snarls and trouble for pedestrians to walk.

According to RDA study, more than 60,000 vehicles ply on roads around the Fowara Chowk daily and require parking arrangements for 1,200 vehicles. However, the roadside place accommodates only 200 vehicles.

RDA Director General Muqeem Shahbaz said the authority had completed all the arrangements and the construction work of plaza would start in mid February.

He said initially, three storeys of the parking plaza would be constructed due to shortage of funds available with RDA. He said RDA had allocated Rs 900 million to build parking plaza in the city in the annual budget 2008-09. He said remaining two floors of the plaza would be constructed next year.

He said RDA was going to use the international method to ease traffic congestion in the downtown, which had become an order of the day. He said the parking plazas were being built all over the developed world.

Shahbaz, who is also a traffic engineer by profession, said all the roads in the downtown should be made one way and encroachments along the roads should be removed to ease traffic. He said in this regard awareness among people was vital to improve the traffic flow in the city.

He said only one parking plaza would not solve the shortage of parking space in the city and three more parking plazas were necessary to overcome the problem.

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