Greater Chennai Corporation to appoint consultant to study off-street parking models

CHENNAI:

Greater Chennai Corporation

will appoint a consultant to study the potential and demand for off-street

parking

and the availability of government land parcels to set up such parking spaces. This is a part of the Rs 2,000 crore smart parking project announced for the city in the state budget this year. It will be taken up alongside the on-street smart parking management system.


The civic body will look at developing multi-purpose spaces that will include parking facilities. In a review meeting held by corporation officials on Friday, the scope of the project and the proposed role of the consultant were discussed. Under the project, parking spaces will be developed across the city for two lakh two-wheelers and two lakh four-wheelers.

“The consultant will have to identify spots where there is a scope for setting up parking spaces and also identify potential government land to set up off-street parking with facilities such as underground and multi-level car parking. The consultant will also have to work on how to utilize properties – whether to use it as a parking space or create a multi-purpose commercial space. Existing facilities like bus depots can be modernised to set up commercial complexes and multi-level commercial parking,” said an official.

The civic body has identified over 43 acres of vacant lands in prime areas that will also be used for the project and used to generate revenue.

“Corporation lands in Uthamar Gandhi Salai and Richard’s Park are being looked at for the project. The development model and the demand in the area will be assessed by the consultant,” said an official.

The on-street parking management system is currently underway in

Anna Nagar

, Purusalwakam High Road, T Nagar,

Marina Beach

and

Besant Nagar

. The parking project will be executed under a public private partnership (PPP) or engineering procurement and construction (EPC). The civic body will proceed with tenders to appoint a consultant once the election model code of conduct is lifted after May 23.

“Chennai has taken a progressive step towards on-street parking management. Progressive cities across the world manage on-street parking before building off-street parking facilities. Otherwise these facilities remain unused, since on-street parking is free and convenient. Also, on-street parking management generates revenue at fairly low investments compared to building off-street facilities with scarce public funds,” said Nashwa Naushad of Institute for Transportation and Development Policy.

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