New parking norms to be in place for commercial complexes

‘There is a need to modify zoning regulations’

The GHMC sources said given the traffic chaos and lack of parking facilities at many commercial establishments, the parking space norms would be revised soon. “We are seriously looking into revising parking norms. For instance, the existing norms are not able to handle the vehicles coming into and leaving the multiplexes. At show timings, the number of vehicles are at least three times the capacity of a cinema theatre with vehicles going and coming out and those on the roads,” said the sources. Though 44% of a commercial complex should be set aside for parking, it became inclusive of ramps. Now the proposal is to ensure one car park for every 50 sq. metres instead of 80 sq. metres to provide more parking space. “We will go by number of cars that can be parked in a commercial complex irrespective of ramps and cellars,” they said. On commercialisation of major roads, they said when a city grows and roads get expanded, commercialisation of thoroughfare cannot be helped. In case of Hyderabad, the importance of certain roads grew over a period of time leading to their commercialisation. Jubilee Hills road no. 10 and road no. 45 that got connected to Madhapur, Durgam Cheruvu and Film Nagar roads are some such examples. The sources said GO 353 of the HMDA allowed non-residential activities in residential areas as they wanted to simplify the regulations in the past to provide some amenities. But over a period of time, too many commercial complexes come up within an area leading to congestion. “There is a need to modify the zoning regulations. It’s time to stop commercialisation of random roads near residential colonies,” the sources said.