A.Rafay
ELITE MEMBER
- Joined
- Apr 25, 2012
- Messages
- 11,400
- Reaction score
- 10
- Country
- Location
LAHORE:
Things did not go as planned on Friday for the Lahore Parking Company (LePark), which has recently taken over the Liberty Market parking lot, when the automated system failed to function during its inauguration by Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif.
Liberty Parking is the one of the four parking lots to be taken over for automation by the LePark from a total of 354 parking lots across the city.
Work on automating the parking started about a month ago. Fasihuddin, the public relations manager for LePark, had earlier told The Express Tribune that the company was working hard to ensure they could start the automated parking lot at Liberty after Eid.
Currently, vehicles are being charged a flat rate (Rs20 for cars and Rs10 for motorbikes) but the company plans to start charging by the hour soon.
Machines have been installed at the entrance and exit points of the double-layered horseshoe parking lot of Liberty Market.
The machines have been fitted with censors and cameras, which detect when a car arrives and read the licence plates.
It issues a card when the driver pushes a button. The barriers are supposed to open up once the card is collected. However, when the chief minister collected the card, the barrier did not open. It was later operated manually to allow the chief ministers car to pass through.
Project officials dismissed the malfunction as a minor glitch, adding that foreign consultants are working to ensure that all such glitches are removed soon.
On Friday, DCO Noorul Amin Mengal arrived at the spot ahead of the chief minister and checked the system. It had malfunctioned even then. The DCO had then had a talk with the Turkish team of consultants, which was also present at the scene. When it was tried again, it worked.
MPA Khwaja Imran Nazir said, The system still has some glitches because it is new.
When asked why the inauguration had been hurried, he said an early inauguration would help speed up the pace of work on automation of other parking lots.
Nazir said the system, that cost over Rs12 million, had been installed free of charge by the Turkish company.
Later, the chief minister also visited the control room. Sharif thanked the Turkish team for their help. He hoped that the successful system would soon be replicated all over Lahore and other cities of the province. He said the project provided an excellent system of security, which leaves no room for exploitation.
Revenue generation
Officials of the City District Government Lahore told The Express Tribune that they were in talks with the Liberty traders union to decide on how to ensure maximum revenue generation from the parking lot.
Liberty traders vehicles account for more than 300 cars in a 700-car park. Currently, the businessmen do not pay a parking fee.
An official said the union was demanding that the pedestrian way be reduced to 30 feet, from 70 feet, so that more parking space could be created. He said the government was considering the proposal.
Sohail Sarfraz Manj, the president of the Liberty Market Union, said the traders would work with the government to make the system successful.
Liberty Market Parking: System malfunctions during inauguration – The Express Tribune
Things did not go as planned on Friday for the Lahore Parking Company (LePark), which has recently taken over the Liberty Market parking lot, when the automated system failed to function during its inauguration by Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif.
Liberty Parking is the one of the four parking lots to be taken over for automation by the LePark from a total of 354 parking lots across the city.
Work on automating the parking started about a month ago. Fasihuddin, the public relations manager for LePark, had earlier told The Express Tribune that the company was working hard to ensure they could start the automated parking lot at Liberty after Eid.
Currently, vehicles are being charged a flat rate (Rs20 for cars and Rs10 for motorbikes) but the company plans to start charging by the hour soon.
Machines have been installed at the entrance and exit points of the double-layered horseshoe parking lot of Liberty Market.
The machines have been fitted with censors and cameras, which detect when a car arrives and read the licence plates.
It issues a card when the driver pushes a button. The barriers are supposed to open up once the card is collected. However, when the chief minister collected the card, the barrier did not open. It was later operated manually to allow the chief ministers car to pass through.
Project officials dismissed the malfunction as a minor glitch, adding that foreign consultants are working to ensure that all such glitches are removed soon.
On Friday, DCO Noorul Amin Mengal arrived at the spot ahead of the chief minister and checked the system. It had malfunctioned even then. The DCO had then had a talk with the Turkish team of consultants, which was also present at the scene. When it was tried again, it worked.
MPA Khwaja Imran Nazir said, The system still has some glitches because it is new.
When asked why the inauguration had been hurried, he said an early inauguration would help speed up the pace of work on automation of other parking lots.
Nazir said the system, that cost over Rs12 million, had been installed free of charge by the Turkish company.
Later, the chief minister also visited the control room. Sharif thanked the Turkish team for their help. He hoped that the successful system would soon be replicated all over Lahore and other cities of the province. He said the project provided an excellent system of security, which leaves no room for exploitation.
Revenue generation
Officials of the City District Government Lahore told The Express Tribune that they were in talks with the Liberty traders union to decide on how to ensure maximum revenue generation from the parking lot.
Liberty traders vehicles account for more than 300 cars in a 700-car park. Currently, the businessmen do not pay a parking fee.
An official said the union was demanding that the pedestrian way be reduced to 30 feet, from 70 feet, so that more parking space could be created. He said the government was considering the proposal.
Sohail Sarfraz Manj, the president of the Liberty Market Union, said the traders would work with the government to make the system successful.
Liberty Market Parking: System malfunctions during inauguration – The Express Tribune
