With the growing number of cars and other motor vehicles hitting the roads every day, along with the hordes of rickshaws jostling for space on busy roads, availability of parking space has become a very difficult proposition. Under the circumstances, random parking of cars, trucks and buses on busy thoroughfares further narrows the road space creating horrendous traffic jams in the city.

In developed countries, there are parking lots in busy commercial zones, shopping arcades and similar other places where traffic is very heavy indeed. Many of these parking places are multistoried built either under or above ground level.

Aside from creating traffic jams, indiscriminate parking practices in Dhaka City also hampers pedestrian movement. It will not be hard to find cars parked even on sidewalks, forcing pedestrians to get on the road and risk being run over by speeding vehicles while trying to negotiate the large number of vehicles lined up on a big chunk of the road.

Recently, the Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) introduced charge for parking vehicles in the Motijheel Commercial Area, but this has had little or no effect on the area's overall traffic situation where motor vehicles are seen parked in two or three rows. A large number of pavement hawkers also take up a lot of space on the sidewalk as well as on the road. All this makes the situation unbearable for commuters.

There is an acute scarcity of parking space in the Motijheel Commercial Area. Except for some isolated parking spots, most part of Motijheel has no parking place. As a result, motor vehicles belonging to banks, insurance companies and other commercial concerns as well as visitors have to be parked on both sides of the road, often in more than one row.

Similarly, the New Elephant Road witnesses large-scale irregular parking. And so does the Green Road where a couple of kindergartens, a private hospital and a high-rise pathological clinic in addition to the landmark cinema hall at the eastern end of the road largely contribute to the chaotic situation because of haphazard parking in front of and around these establishments.

Except for the New Market, which provides some parking space, most other shopping complexes in its neighbourhood like the Chadni Chawk, Gowsia Market, Noor Mansion, Dhanmondi Hawkers' Market, Chistia Market and Ismail Mansion have no parking space.

Shopkeepers in some 15 markets in the area are concerned about losing business as many customers shy away from coming to these markets due to lack of parking place and go elsewhere instead for shopping. A similar situation exists in the Mouchak area off Moghbazar.

The steadily increasing number of motor vehicles and the inevitable for their parking has now become an urgent issue. In the interest of easing traffic congestion, there is a very urgent need for a change in outlook as far as parking is concerned. Both DCC and the private sector should take up projects to build multis-toried parking lots in whatever vacant spaces are available in many commercially important areas.