Staff Reporter
The Karachi Development Authority is ready to hold a ballot for 160 shops and 118 offices
in the Saddar Parking Plaza.Officially, the plaza is calling the Lines Area Redevelopment Project Parking
Plaza. It used to be called the CDGK Parking Plaza. It’s located in Saddar and is popularly known as the
Saddar Parking Plaza and is more than just a parking space. It’s also home to a number of shop and
office spaces.KDA Director-General Dr Saif-ur-Rehman said they’re restoring the plaza and have been
given the green light to make it functional once again by its governing body. They want to make it into a
source of badly needed revenue.The plaza has space for offices and shops on the ground, mezzanine,
6th and 7th floors while the other five are for parking. There is a capacity to park 600 cars and 300
motorcycles. “We are not going to auction the shops and offices off. We’re conducting balloting through
a computerised system to make the entire process transparent,” explained Dr Rehman. He said that KDA
has hired AF Ferguson & Co—a Pakistani accountancy and consultancy firm–to oversee the process.The
balloting process will begin in February. Applicants can get forms from any UBL branch in Karachi. It costs Rs3,000 and that cost is non-refundable. Of the 160 shops and 118 offices, 86 are on the ground
floor and 74 on the mezzanine floor. Another 59 are on the sixth floor and another 59 on the seventh
floor.The KDA is going to run an advertisement campaign regarding the balloting on TV, in newspapers
and on social media. LARP Project Director Mobeen Siddiqui said that a six-member committee is
working on the project. It comprises the KDA’s finance member, KMC’s senior director, two
representatives of the Association of Builders and Developers, a representative of the real estate
industry and the LARP project director.
