RAWALPINDI: The incomplete work on the Commercial Market pedestrian street is causing problems for visitors and shopkeepers, while officials have said the project will take one more month to complete.

The construction work was stopped last month due to rains but is yet to resume, creating problems for visitors who come to the main market in the Satellite Town.

Traders are also worried over the slow work and said customers avoided visiting the market due to the construction work.

Saleem Ahmed, a visitor to Commercial Market, said that visitors faced problems due to slow construction work.

“There are no parking spaces and the incomplete work has added to traffic congestion,” he said. Mohammad Farhan said due to the dug-up roads and construction work going on for the last one year, visitors were facing problems. “The government should make parking space before construction work so people will not suffer traffic jams in the main food and cloth market,” he said.

Ahmed Ali Khan, another visitor, said it was the main market of clothes and food outlets in the garrison city but visitors faced problems to reach the area from Chandni Chowk.

“There is no parking place and due to the dug-up roads and dust visitors avoid coming to the market,” he said.

When contacted, a senior official of Rawalpindi Municipal Corporation (RMC) said they wanted to complete the work as soon as possible but last month’s rains hampered the construction work.

“RMC had started construction of the road, footpaths and the beautification of the pedestrian street and it will take a month more,” he said.

He said more than 75pc work on the pedestrian street had been completed and the beautification work worth Rs370 million will be ready next month.

Rawalpindi Traders Association President Sharjeel Mir said that the beautification work in Commercial Market was yet to be completed. “Traders and visitors suffer a lot which affect our business.”

He said that people avoided visiting Commercial Market and preferred going to nearby markets because there was no space left to enter the bazaar.

Anjuman Tajiran Rawalpindi President Shahid Ghafoor Paracha said that the work was stopped and not started yet.

He said 15 per cent work in Raja Bazaar is still pending and RMC is not paying any heed to solve the problems of traders and visitors. He said sewerage lines in Raja Bazaar had not been laid properly and the administration had promised to rectify the problem. He said that signboards of shops and sheds were yet to be completed in Raja Bazaar.

Published in Dawn, September 26th, 2026