The authorities’ negligence and management failure to provide parking space in the capital is increasing traffic congestion and deepening public sufferings, said experts.
Every year, new vehicles are hitting the streets and commercial and shopping malls are coming up in the city while the authorities have failed to provide parking space for them.
Currently, there are no on-street parking space in Dhaka while there is only one off-street parking space for about two lakh registered private cars in the city.
Another off-street multi-storied parking lot at Gulshan, built by Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha, is yet to be opened for public about a year after its completion.
Vehicles are not only parked on almost all streets, and even cars are also being parked on footpaths and by-lanes right in front of the authorities.
Owners of most of the buildings, approved by Rajuk, are using their parking spaces for other purposes, said officials.
Car parking situation on streets and footpaths on areas including Motijheel, Dhanmondi, Paltan, Gulistan, New Market, Karwan Bazar, Farmgate, Mirpur 10 to Mirpur 14, Kalyanpur, Gulshan, Banana, and Uttara reached an unbearable situation, admitted city corporation officials.
Architect and Bangladesh Paribesh Bachao Andolan joint secretary Iqbal Habib said the first question is whether the government has the mentality to recover the parking spaces.
The authorities have to ensure use of every parking space in every building, make parking a non-free facility and impose higher fines for illegal parking, he added.
Work for Better Bangladesh Trust national advocacy officer Maruf Rahman said the present situation proved the failure of the government’s parking management.
‘First the government has to fix its priority regarding parking. If it imposes higher parking fee and increases public transport most of the people will not use private cars,’ he said.
The experts also criticised Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s role to take action against illegal parking.
Under Dhaka South City Corporation, the much-hyped City Centre, an off-street multi-storied parking lot at Motijheel Commercial Area, was opened early this year—six years after its completion.
For parking cars, City Centre has seven dedicated floors to give space for 1,200 vehicles at a time while currently up to only 200 cars are daily using this lot, said officials.
DSCC traffic engineering department superintendent engineer Md Ashiqur Rahman said there is no on-street parking space in south city while another off-street multi-stored building at Dilkusha is under construction.
Iqbal Habib said city centre did not have space for more than 500 cars at a time as 40 per cent of its parking space were being used for other purposes.
Dhaka North City Corporation at present has no on or off street parking space, said officials.
DNCC chief executive officer BM Enamul Haque admitted that the city corporation was yet to attain the ability and knowledge to manage parking problems.
Rajuk Development Control-1 department director Md Golam Mostafa admitted that most of the buildings, which had been approved with parking space, use those spaces for other purposes, especially in Uttara area.
Rajuk’s off-street parking building at Gulshan 1 completed about a year ago, which has capacity to give space for 228 vehicles at a time, is yet to popularise the space as a parking place, said officials.
DMP joint commissioner for traffic Mosleh Uddin Ahmed said they allowed car parking on single line on by-lanes as there are no designated parking spaces.
He urged city corporations to introduce pay-parking on streets.
Every year, new vehicles are hitting the streets and commercial and shopping malls are coming up in the city while the authorities have failed to provide parking space for them.
Currently, there are no on-street parking space in Dhaka while there is only one off-street parking space for about two lakh registered private cars in the city.
Another off-street multi-storied parking lot at Gulshan, built by Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha, is yet to be opened for public about a year after its completion.
Vehicles are not only parked on almost all streets, and even cars are also being parked on footpaths and by-lanes right in front of the authorities.
Owners of most of the buildings, approved by Rajuk, are using their parking spaces for other purposes, said officials.
Car parking situation on streets and footpaths on areas including Motijheel, Dhanmondi, Paltan, Gulistan, New Market, Karwan Bazar, Farmgate, Mirpur 10 to Mirpur 14, Kalyanpur, Gulshan, Banana, and Uttara reached an unbearable situation, admitted city corporation officials.
Architect and Bangladesh Paribesh Bachao Andolan joint secretary Iqbal Habib said the first question is whether the government has the mentality to recover the parking spaces.
The authorities have to ensure use of every parking space in every building, make parking a non-free facility and impose higher fines for illegal parking, he added.
Work for Better Bangladesh Trust national advocacy officer Maruf Rahman said the present situation proved the failure of the government’s parking management.
‘First the government has to fix its priority regarding parking. If it imposes higher parking fee and increases public transport most of the people will not use private cars,’ he said.
The experts also criticised Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s role to take action against illegal parking.
Under Dhaka South City Corporation, the much-hyped City Centre, an off-street multi-storied parking lot at Motijheel Commercial Area, was opened early this year—six years after its completion.
For parking cars, City Centre has seven dedicated floors to give space for 1,200 vehicles at a time while currently up to only 200 cars are daily using this lot, said officials.
DSCC traffic engineering department superintendent engineer Md Ashiqur Rahman said there is no on-street parking space in south city while another off-street multi-stored building at Dilkusha is under construction.
Iqbal Habib said city centre did not have space for more than 500 cars at a time as 40 per cent of its parking space were being used for other purposes.
Dhaka North City Corporation at present has no on or off street parking space, said officials.
DNCC chief executive officer BM Enamul Haque admitted that the city corporation was yet to attain the ability and knowledge to manage parking problems.
Rajuk Development Control-1 department director Md Golam Mostafa admitted that most of the buildings, which had been approved with parking space, use those spaces for other purposes, especially in Uttara area.
Rajuk’s off-street parking building at Gulshan 1 completed about a year ago, which has capacity to give space for 228 vehicles at a time, is yet to popularise the space as a parking place, said officials.
DMP joint commissioner for traffic Mosleh Uddin Ahmed said they allowed car parking on single line on by-lanes as there are no designated parking spaces.
He urged city corporations to introduce pay-parking on streets.
Source: New Age
