Visakhapatnam: With  vehicle population in the city increasing rapidly and posing a challenge to the city’s traffic system, the GVMC has proposed Multi Level Car Parking (MLCPs) places to cater to the city’s  parking needs.

There are no specific parking lots on the main thoroughfares in the city. The existing ones run by GVMC and others are not adequate to accommodate the ever-increasing vehicle population. Officials opine that the move would reduce parking  problems  on busy streets.

With paucity of land, plans for creating more open parking lots and building integrated multi-storeyed complexes seems to be the only viable solution to parking woes.

The civic body has given top priority to multi-level car parks at important locations such as RK Beach, Jagadamba Centre, Siripuram Junction, Dwarakanagar, Dabagardens, Gajuwaka and Maddilapalem as it expects the number of cars to increase threefold in the coming years from the existing around 50,000 cars.

Authorities have proposed three specific parking locations on Beach Road to ease clearing  parking problems. Such a facility, besides reducing the congestion on the roads, will  provide safe passage for pedestrians, as many pavements at busy junctions are being used for parking.

The MLCPs, as per initial plans, can be built on BOT mode with support from Andhra University and Visakhapatnam Urban Development Authority. Even though the civic body has proposed these facilities close to busy junctions there is  no adequate space for building the structures.

The authorities are negotiating with Andhra University for providing space. They propose to develop such multilevel parking places on PPP mode by obtaining land from the varsity. They are considering operating the places either on revenue sharing basis or providing alternate site for the varsity.

In fact, with no parking facility, commuters park their vehicles on the streets at busy junctions and are penalized by the traffic cops, apart from going through the trouble of   finding the vehicle towed away by the  traffic cops. Multilevel parking solution is the only answer to the city’s  parking woes. GVMC hopes the parks will help in easing problems.