For anyone that has had the pleasure of living in Lahore, the greatest displeasure the city has to offer (besides the winter smog) is the atrocious state of traffic congestion and parking availability. While the car density and traffic jams may be greater in Karachi, Lahore has it pretty bad as well.
One only has to look at the example of Main Market in Gulberg. A posh area full of large mediterranean style houses before it was mostly commercialised, the Main Market with its famous Jalal Sons outlet was at one point a local market for area residents. One where shopkeepers knew you by name and you went more than a couple of times a week.
Today, after the construction of a signal free corridor from Jail Road to Main Boulevard and all the way up to Kalma Chowk, Main Market has become a central point right in the middle of this corridor, and a parking mess. The corridor was built in 2010, during Shehbaz Sharif’s first post-exile and second overall tenure as Chief Minister of Punjab. This was a time when traffic infrastructure construction was at an all time high in Lahore. The reason? More cars than ever before, and naturally, fewer parking spaces.
Which is why in 2012, the then Chief Minister decided that it would be wise to set up an independent company to manage and renovate the existing parking infrastructure in the city, and make plans to create new parking spaces, as well as integrate innovative strategies such as rotating parking spaces. The Lahore Parking Company, which operates under the LePark moniker, was thus formed, and their beige clad parking operators have been managing the city’s dismal parking situation ever since.
Now, LePark is on the verge of being closed down, a process that has been in the works for many years. The Lahore Parking Company had come into being after many trials and tribulations, including development hell, inquiries and cases by the National Accountability Bureau, and the squeezing of funds. What was this company supposed to do when it was formed nearly a decade ago? And more importantly, why did it fail? Profit looks back at the iconic LePark.
Why LePark?
When the Lahore Parking Company was first formed, it was an emergency measure. The situation was bad enough that the Punjab government needed someone to take over the management of its existing parking infrastructure and simply handle it better and more efficiently. However, as part of a more long term plan, the government had grander ambitions for the company.
The company aimed to rehabilitate the existing parking sites in the city and it had a vision to plan and design new parking sites as per international practices by considering the local conditions. The company’s core objective was to develop modern parking sites in the city equipped with automatic ticketing machines, barriers, hand-held terminals, and cameras.
To this end, LePark was supposed to install a modern system that would have been intelligent, time efficient and automatic. The main objective of the company was creating public convenience and this would have been ensured by Automatic Parking Management System, Proper Pavement Marking, Signage, Adequate Pedestrian Pathways, Lighting, etc.
However, other than managing parking, the company could have been a unique and dynamic force in the management of the City, particularly for security purposes. Since the biggest concern of vehicle owners while parking is safety, the company had ambitious plans to ensure a modern surveillance and enforcement system to cater the threat of safety and security in parking sites. Automatic ticketing machines, latest high definition cameras, barcode scanners, etc would be installed to ensure security of vehicles.
There were the top priorities. Then there would be other factors, such as assisting the traffic police and going on campaigns for public awareness regarding parking rules and regulations. The company was to ensure that public awareness was carried out regarding the Automatic Parking Management System and its efficient use via electronic and print media, and seminars at different forums.
Another important use that the government got out of the company was that since they had handheld ticket machines and experience, they were given the responsibility of handling the ticketing of Lahore’s Metro Bus project, both at the stations and in the buses.
But perhaps the most important and ambitious project that LePark had was making large rotating automatic parkings at a familiar site in Lahore. To this end, six rotary parking machines have been installed at Lahore High Court, Old PND, Services Hospital, Mayo Hospital, DC office and Ichhra Site and other places. Also, the LePARK has successfully launched e-ticketing at Liberty D Parking Site, PCBL Site and Ittefaq Hospital Site.
But the idea never really spread, and according to LePark General Manager, Rehan Waheed, there are 5.8 million vehicles in the Lahore city alone. Of them, 4.3 million are motorcyclists and remaining are three-wheeler and four-wheeler vehicles. “This is what registered vehicles are. If we count unregistered vehicles too, the number may cross seven million,” he says. “The company proposed four parking plazas in different parts of the city to cater to traffic woes and so far there has been no development on them.”
He says the company started working by regulating the parking lots, which were earlier being run by private contractors. Those contractors would work as mafia and would exploit the vehicle owners. They would overcharge and often occupied any vacant space along roads.
Death knells
So then what went wrong? The Lahore Parking Company was supposed to be a brilliant experiment that not only fixed the City’s rampant parking problems, but also acted as an extra government force to promote security and law and order.
“The government, in fact, has decided to wind it up, and it was only a matter of time,” says the Punjab Government’s Steering Committee, headed by former finance minister Salman Shah. “ They never gave revenue to the government,” he explains.
According to details, back in 2013, the company started working with 195 parking stands. Later on, the company made an assessment of potential sites, and found 438 sites suitable for parking lots. Of them, at a later stage, 235 sites were finalized.
Despite all these measures, the traffic woes coming from the traffic parking never went away. Now, the Punjab government’s steering committee has decided to close down the Lahore Parking Company. According to officials, the public steering committee had to take the decision because of the poor performance of the company and its failure to achieve the stated objectives.
Documents show that the steering committee in its Sept 17 meeting, presided over by Dr Salman Shah, adviser to the chief minister, reviewed performance of the LPC. But the talk about the performance of the company and its closure has been going on since 2016, back when Shehbaz Sharif was still running the show in Lahore.
When Shehbaz Sharif was the chief minister, the government would often express displeasure over the poor performance of the company. According to a document, “The chief minister in a progress review meeting on July 15, 2016 and December 27, 2016 expressed his displeasure with regards to poor performance of the company and its CEO, observing that the company failed to achieve its objective of solving parking problems, automating the parking sites and establishing new parking plazas/automated parking systems even after four years from its establishment.”
“The Chief Minister directed for immediate action. During meetings the CM sought disbanding of the company. The committee raised serious concerns over the lack of technical competency, professional dedication and commitment towards achievement of the objectives. The committee proposed to hand over the administrative control of the company to the administrative department which is Municipal Corporation of Lahore being owner of the company.”
Essentially, the story of the Lahore Parking Company is one of gross incompetence. Through the different committees that have tried to decide its fate over the years, it is obvious that the company was unable to present any concrete measures to address the challenges faced by the company and to establish modern parking systems. Even after multiple warnings, the Company has failed to bring any substantial revenue enhancement proposal.
Now, the hour has arrived in which the government has started working on initiating a summary for seeking approval of the chief minister for winding-up of the company and assigning the function of public
The MCL is expected to devise a comprehensive business plan outlined in a professional manner which may include, IT systems, automated/mechanized ticketing system, lane marking, installation of CCTV cameras for real time monitoring linked with the central dashboard to ensure transparency, GIS mapping of the parking sites, issuance of e-tickets through handheld android-based devices and shall conduct a study to realize actual potential of the parking from the Metropolitan City of Lahore.
The Lahore Parking Company was supposed to have been doing all of these things, but their failure to collect revenue meant that they were always so cash strapped they could never really think about doing anything other than surviving. Now, the expectations are real and the MCL actions must ensure that parking operations are not high-jacked by the mafia to mint recovery from the helpless citizens.
But tensions are brewing in the wake of the closure of the company. Employees are calling the decision malafide. “LPC is a jewel destroyed by the bureaucracy,” deplores an official who wished not to be quoted.
He said the company, established in August, 2012 with an intention to eliminate the ‘Thekedar Mafia’ which was conniving with the local administration staff to rob the general public in the name of parking fee, is now being winded up to allegedly to facilitate the mafia and not the people. “The company is managing more than 200 parking sites spread all across Lahore in different locations.”
“Around 800 workers are deployed there who have played a great role in minimizing the public complaints related to overcharging, misbehave, theft etc,” he claimed.
He further claimed that the company, to date has paid around 230 million in cash and in addition provided the free parking services to the general public worth more than Rs260 Million averaging to approximately Rs70 Million per year over the course of the last 7 years. He demanded that the government must withdraw its decision in order to facilitate the people.
However, it is unlikely that LePark will live to see much more. What can be said for sure is that whosoever runs the show after this, they will have to establish a centralized control room for the surveillance of the operational activities and parking fee collection systems if they are to avoid the same fate.
