: Ten years after the projects were first proposed, the multi-level parking facilities of Delhi’s municipal corporations are either finding it difficult to attract users or have not been opened.
In 2007, the then-Municipal Corporation of Delhi had proposed construction of 24 multi-level parking lots and had even identified land.
In 2009, then chairperson of the MCD Standing Committee Vijendra Gupta, who is now the Leader of the Opposition in the Delhi Assembly, had said that ₹1,000 crore had been set aside for the projects.
Before the Commonwealth Games in 2010, the sites for the projects had been identified. Later, the list was whittled down to 14 as the projects were split into different phases.
But, as of now, the multi-level parking experiment is not doing well – either the sites are under-utilised or construction work still hasn’t finished.
The North Delhi Municipal Corporation inherited six multi-level parking lots from the MCD when the latter was split into three different bodies in 2012.
Officials say the parking facilities at Aruna Asaf Ali Road, Church Mission Road, Gandhi Maidan and Subhash Park are usually always full, with residents and traders of Old Delhi using them every day. The facility at Kamla Nagar and the one in Model Town have been under-utilised.
That being said, the facilities are not maintained well and with no lighting and ventilation, coupled with anti-social elements hanging around the entrances, safety is also a concern.
The South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC), which got eight of the multi-level parking lots from the MCD, has not been able to get any of the projects to work successfully so far. The sites at Munirka, Subhash Nagar, Rajouri Garden, New Friends Colony, Jangpura, Kalkaji and Hauz Khas have either not been completed or have not been successfully opened to the public.
The Hauz Khas parking lot has been inaugurated several times, but is not being used right now. SDMC Leader of the House Subhash Arya said that the contract to run the facility would have to be re-done, with a new tender being floated.
“The remaining sites, starting with Subhash Nagar and Rajouri Garden, will begin operations from February 14 onwards,” said Mr. Arya.
However, like previous announcements and ‘inauguration ceremonies’, this too comes before elections. Municipal elections are slated for April.
In East Delhi, which does not have a multi-level parking lot yet, a facility is coming up at Krishna Nagar. “It should be completed in two to three months. We have also proposed new multi-level parking projects in Gandhi Nagar and Laxmi Nagar,” said Jitendra Choudhary, chairperson of the EDMC Standing Committee.
However, officials in the municipal corporations admitted that there had been mistakes made in the parking projects.
For instance, the Hauz Khas parking lot has a design flaw that prevents free movement of sedans and SUVs. Another problem has been the inability of the corporations to convince users to opt for multi-level parking lots instead of surface parking.
A senior SDMC official said that till Delhiites start using the existing facilities, it would be difficult to justify making new ones.
