Karachi: The government of Sindh officially abolished all the parking lot loaded on the road through Karachi, a practice that the karachiitas had long seen as a gross exploitation of the taxpayers, made on roads of the city during the last 25 years. The decision enters into force at the same time.
The Local Government Department of Sindh, acting on the directives of the principal minister of Sindh, issued a notification announcing the end of parking fees on public roads in the 25 municipal corporations of the city of the city (TMCS).
According to the new policy, no municipal agency or private entity can collect any parking rate of vehicles parked on roads anywhere in Karachi.
However, the measure also granted to the TMC councils the authority to designate any ‘specified area’ within its mandate as a loaded parking space.
According to the notification, the principal minister of Sindh “imposed a prohibition of the parking rates collected on the roads. The loaded parking fees can only be collected in plots / squares / areas specifically maintained by the specific advice for such purposes.”
TMCS gave authority to designate ‘specified area’ as a loaded parking space; Rate collection will continue in the areas of the Acantonation Board
From immediately, all municipal administrations of the city (TMA) have received the order to stop the collection of parking fees and begin to implement the policy without delay.
The Local Government Department has also launched a formal campaign to enforce this directive, with strict action warnings against offenders. It is important to note that the ban strictly applies to public roads.
The parking fees will now only be legally allowed in the designated parking spaces, private plots or specific areas approved by the Council. These areas are expected to be clearly marked to avoid confusion.
“This step has taken purely in public interest,” said the mayor of the city, Murtaza Wahab.
“Karachi residents have long demanded and, sometimes, suffered at the hands of the collection of illegal and arbitrary parking fees. This administration has fulfilled their promise of transparency and responsibility, ensuring that public roads remain public spaces, free.”
However, an official clarified that the accused parking lot would continue within the jurisdiction of six Karachi closure. The Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) sources revealed that the concept of parking loaded in Karachi was first introduced in the year 2000.
The initiative was imagined by the then general director of the Karachi Development Authority (KDA), the Brigadier Retired Abdul Haq, as part of a broader strategy to generate municipal income. At that time, it supervised the development of infrastructure and urban planning of the city, and saw the parking lot paid as a potential tool to finance civic services and manage vehicular congestion in the crop in the metropolis.
In February 2025, Mayor Mrtaza Wahab hinted to abolish the parking loaded through Karachi as part of his broader vision to relieve financial burden for citizens.
However, the initiative faced delays due to existing contractual obligations, since several entities had valid loaded parking agreements, which would expire in June.
During this period, the KMC continued to generate an average annual income from RS40 to 50 million parking fees.
Abolition has been acclaimed by citizens and travelers as one of the most significant urban relief measures in recent years.
For decades, unauthorized contractors and the so -called “parking mafias” had monopolized the main places of the city, often charging arbitrary rates without any legal base or standardized rate.
The KMC, which previously handled the parking lot on 46 main roads, had already suspended such rates under a renewal of policies throughout the city. Now, the 25 TMC are divided into the same board, with a leveling playing field throughout the city.
The decision, the officials say, also reflects a growing confidence in the financial stability of the KMC and other urban bodies, which can now carry out their operations without resorting to income generation tactics at the street level that loaded citizens.
“There is no institution that is not KMC in designated areas, and that also under regulation, can now participate in rates collection. The days of extortion in the name of the parking lot have ended,” said a KMC spokesman, and added that the government had also directed all municipal commissioners to guarantee compliance, with a clear warning that the failure to implement the order would result in immediate disciplinary measures.
Posted in Dawn, July 26, 2025
