New parking system can makecorpn richer by Rs 354 crore in 5 years

CHENNAI: Greater Chennai Corporation expects to earn Rs 354 crore in five years after the proposed parking management system is operational. At present, the corporation earns only Rs 50 lakh annually as parking charges.

The corporation appointed a three-party consortium for a five-year deal in April to implement the system at the 12,047 identified parking spots. The consortium includes Bengaluru-based Toorq Media, Mumbai-based Skidata

India Private Limited

and Chennai-based SS Tech. Skidata will be the primary service providing agency. “It has experience in handling car traffic at prominent airports across the country,” a corporation official said.

Documents accessed by TOI show that the service provider will not only levy user charges but impose penalty for illegal parking, something which the traffic police do.

Raj Cherubal, CEO of

Chennai Smart City Limited

, said the revenue sharing model agreed with the service provider was “unique”. “We have not gone for a percentage model. Instead, the service provider will pay us a fixed amount for every parking token issued. This ensures that the corporation does not lose out on revenue due to poor patronage. If the service provider makes more money, we stand to benefit,” said Cherubal. “The corporation will not invest. This is different to what was done all these years where the corporation would pay an agency to handle parking responsibilities,” he added.

Estimates drawn up by the service provider show that user fees would generate Rs 55.68 crore in the first year. By the fifth year, the annual figure could rise to Rs 80.07 crore with the total projected earnings coming to Rs 354.11 crore.

This number could further increase as corporation officials told TOI that plans were afoot to increase the number of on-street parking spots. “Preliminary surveys tell us that we can open up around 30,000 parking spots,” a corporation official said.

At present, cars pay Rs 5 per hour as parking fee. This would be increased to Rs 20 per hour. Two-wheeler riders would require to pay a parking fee under the new system. “Certain neighbourhoods would attract a premium fee based on the time of the day or demand. In these places, parking fees could go up to Rs 40 per hour,” an official said.

A pilot is expected to be done on the Marina and in

Anna Nagar

or Besant Nagar in the next two months. This will allow the corporation to study drawbacks, if any, and apply corrective measures. “The service provider will set up a grievance cell where complaints can be registered by users. Issues like tampering of gadgets and leakage are unlikely due to digitisation,” a senior corporation official said.