3 multilevel parking lots to start in Delhi, existing ones in doldrums
The largest of the three new parking sites at Gandhi Maidan is complete and all permissions have been secured
The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) is planning to begin operations at three of its new multilevel parking lots over the next month — at Gandhi Maidan (Chandni Chowk), Amar Colony (Lajpat Nagar) and Nigambodh Ghat -- according to officials aware of the matter.
However, the utilisation of several other such parking facilities developed by civic bodies in the last decade has been low for varied reasons — damaged public perception due to poor maintenance, time taken to park a single vehicle, design flaws, narrow lanes that cannot accommodate wide cars, and the distance of the facilities from markets.
The largest of the three new parking sites at Gandhi Maidan is complete and all permissions have been secured, the officials said. “The operators are expected to start the trial run at Chandni Chowk on Monday. It is ready for commissioning. The trial will help us find out if there are any initial glitches or modifications required,” an MCD official said, adding that it will add space for 2,338 cars in the congested area.
The second multilevel parking in the pipeline at Nigambodh Ghat — the largest cremation facility in the city — can accommodate 95 cars. The MCD official quoted above said the civic body was to commission the parking in July but it was damaged due to the floods. “The damaged motors of the parking are being repaired and we are aiming to make it operational by December end,” the official added. The third automated parking lot nearing completion at Amar Colony can accommodate 81 cars, and the deadline for commissioning of the project is the first week of January 2024.
Varied problems at existing sites
HT reported in March citing MCD data that the first automated tower car parking project developed at Green Park had an average utility rate of only 30% with only 40-42 cars using it per day on average. A section of the parking collapsed in November 2021 damaging several vehicles and prompting a probe by the Delhi government. The accident damaged the public perception of the facility, officials said. Additionally, the distance of the facility from the Green Park main market and the lack of a foot overbridge also discourage people from utilising the facility.
At the Sarojini Nagar multilevel parking facility developed by the New Delhi Municipal Council, traders complained that the time it takes to park one vehicle is too high, leading to very low occupancy. Built at an estimated cost of ₹80 crore, this automated parking lot has a capacity of 824 vehicles and was inaugurated in 2011. “Only less than half of the lot is occupied as it takes 15-20 minutes to park a car and a queue builds up if many vehicles attempt to access it,” said Ashok Randhawa, who heads the Sarojini Nagar mini-market traders association.
The Hauz Khas multilevel parking lot, which was completed in 2014 remained underutilised for several years due to design flaws — the exit point on the ramp was not wide enough for large cars. Though it was later widened, usage remains low. And MCD data shows said that the Adchini automated parking facility had an average occupancy of 55-60%.
New projects
The six-storey structure at the Gandhi Maidan is expected to have 150,000 square feet of floor area. A second MCD official said the parking has six levels including three underground floors out of which one floor will be reserved for commercial activities. It is expected to relieve congestion in areas like Chandni Chowk, Chawri Bazar, Kinari Bazar, Khari Baoli, Nai Sadak and Dariba Kalan.
As part of the project initiated by the erstwhile North MCD, which is being developed as a Public-Private Partnership (PPP), the civic body has leased out the commercial portion of the Gandhi Maidan parking lot to the builder, along with 25% parking space abutting the commercial section.
“Under the PPP agreement, the builder can operate it for a year. After the first year, it will use only 25% of the space abutting the commercial section and the rest will be transferred to MCD,” the second official added. Mayor Shelly Oberoi inspected the facilities at Amar Colony and Nigambodh Ghat last week and said that the remaining work would be completed by the first week of January.
Experts said that Instead of banning on-street parking within 500-1000m around the multilevel parking, civic bodies should initiate high on-street parking fees. “These road stretches can also be managed by the same contractor as that of the multilevel parking. This way, short term demand will be priced and regulated. Vehicles parking for longer duration will be encouraged to move to the multilevel parking,” said Sonal Shah, director, Center for Sustainable and Equitable Cities.
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