Multilevel parking at Sadar Bazar will be ready by March 2023

The multilevel parking at Sadar Bazar is likely to be constructed by March next year, officials of the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) said on Sunday. The parking near Sohna Chowk can accommodate around 206 cars and 190 two-wheelers, said officials.

The entire project is expected to cost around ₹54 crore. Three basement floors have been reserved for basement parking and six floors above are primarily reserved for commercial shops which will be given on lease by the MCG, said officials.

MCG commissioner Mukesh Kumar Ahuja and Mayor Madhu Azad inspected the construction site on Friday evening, during which MCG’s engineering wing officials gave an update on the project.

“Around 55% of the construction work has been completed. Provided the work continues uninterrupted, the MCG is on track to complete the construction by March next year,” said Radheshyam Sharma, superintending engineer, MCG, who is overseeing the project.

Sharma further said that the basement floors and the ground floor have largely been constructed and a roof has been put on top of the first floor.

“The basement floors and the first two floors of any building are the most time-consuming as they set the base upon which the building is constructed upwards. Since the majority of the time-consuming and technical aspects of the building have been constructed, the MCG is aiming to construct the remaining floors within the next six months,” said Sharma.

The foundation stone for the multilevel parking project was laid in September 2019, however, subsequent construction bans imposed during the months of October to January due to high air pollution levels and the Covid-19 outbreak in March 2020 which also resulted in multiple lockdowns being induced to limit human interaction and thereafter the general limitation in manpower, as most migrant workers had returned home, meant that construction only gained momentum this year, said MCG officials.

During a review meeting of major MCG projects in September last year, MCG engineering wing officials disclosed that only 20% of the construction work for this multilevel parking had been completed.

MCG is also constructing two other multilevel parking projects, another in Sadar Bazar near the post office, and the other at Kaman Sarai. Both of these are at a nascent stage, said officials.

Overall, the three projects are expected to provide parking for 1750 vehicles.

The multilevel parking project holds importance as the city has only one multilevel parking and 15 HSVP-sanctioned parking spots in a city of more than two million people.

Due to scarcity of parking, especially in high footfall areas such as Sadar Bazar, most residents park their vehicles on the side of the road due to which there is heavy traffic congestion.

Such is the parking problem in the city that each month, Gurugram traffic police issue anywhere between 2000 to 3000 challans for wrong parking.

According to the 2019 comprehensive mobility and management plan of Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) around 32% of the city’s roads are two-lane carriageways which makes them vulnerable to traffic congestion.

“In view of the increasing number of vehicles and lack of parking in Gurugram, the MCG is working fast towards the construction of the multi level parking project (near Sohna Chowk). There is a lot of vehicular movement in Sadar Bazar and its surrounding area and due to the nonavailability of parking facilities for the people, the problem of traffic jams persists daily. The construction work of Sadar Bazar parking will be completed soon. After this, there will be better parking facilities in the area which will also get rid of the problem of traffic jams,” said Ahuja.