Over two months after Haryana’s biggest multilevel parking lot was opened in the heart of Gurugram in Sector 29, the facility lies nearly empty. It was built at a cost of Rs. 150 crore.
Despite parking rates being about half of what is charged at the adjoining HUDA City Centre metro station, the multi-storey parking lot, which can hold 900-odd cars and about 200 two-wheelers, has an average occupancy of just 10-15 vehicles a day.
Nitin, a parking manager, said that on average only 5-10 cars and a couple of two-wheelers park at the lot every day. He said that the response to the facility was lukewarm despite it offering four-wheelers and two-wheelers parking at the rate of just Rs. 25 and Rs. 15, respectively, for the first six hours.
Semi-automatic system
Located in Sector 29, a hub of restaurants, hotels and pubs, the parking lot is surrounded by a metro station, an office space in South City-I, and Sector 44 Institutional Area.
The lot boasts a semi-automatic system with hydraulic platforms and car lifts. It has two basements and four floors for parking.
The ground floor and first floor are earmarked for a shopping complex and stores of apparel, lifestyle and auto workshop brands. Parking timings are from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m.
A senior official of International Infrabuild Private Limited (IIPL), the company which was awarded the work in 2015 by HUDA, said they are planning promotional activities to encourage people to use the parking.
“The parking lot opened recently and not many people know about it leading to the poor response. Secondly, it seems that people are not ready to walk even a small distance from the lot to their destination. We are thinking of starting a last-mile connectivity service from the lot, such as e-rickshaws,” said the official.
“One of our regular customers, an elderly man, parks his car here and then takes an autorickshaw to reach the HUDA City Centre metro station located just 300 metres away,” said a security guard at the lot.
Rakesh Sharma, who works at a company in Sector 44, said that the parking lot was ill-conceived as the adjoining metro station had a huge parking lot on the ground and basement. “Ideally, it should have been constructed in Sector 44 Institutional Area, which has a huge parking space crisis,” said Mr. Sharma.
Chander Shekhar Khare, administrator of Haryana Shahari Vikas Pradhikaran, said that a meeting was held with IIPL officials on Tuesday and they were directed to popularise the parking lot and encourage people to use it.
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