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MCD committee to take call on multi-level parking project

Wednesday, 18 November 2009 11:17 administrator
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Indian Express 18.11.2009

MCD committee to take call on multi-level parking project

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi has decided to re-launch its ambitious multi-level parking project to ease parking woes at 15 major spots in the Capital. The Rs 110-crore project has remained on paper since its inception in 2004, battling funding and other issues. The corporation, however, claims to have resolved all issues and will present the project before the Standing Committee for approval on Wednesday.

Now, the MCD plans to invite bids by the end of this week for automatic parking lots in areas like Chirag Dilli, South Extension, Hauz Khas, New Friends Colony and Karol Bagh.

The multi-level parking lots are to be built on the ‘palate parking principle’ ¿ where cars are placed on flat structures and lifted via hydraulic lifts and parked where there space.

The benefit: this principle will save space.

Mehrauli parking, however, will not have automated hydraulic system and will have ramps as a cost cutting measure.

Earlier, in 2005, the MCD had awarded the tender for the first lot of these parking sites to Simpark Infrastructure, but the contract was withdrawn after the Standing Committee objected to the procedure of awarding the contract. The civic body then invited fresh bids in 2007 but nothing was finalised.

The 15 parking lots are to be built on ‘Build Operate and Transfer’ basis where a private firm will build the parking lot and operate it for 30 years. The MCD will benefit through advertising space and revenue generated.

Last Updated on Wednesday, 18 November 2009 11:20
 

Automated parking sites to be put on fast track

Wednesday, 18 November 2009 11:13 administrator
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Hindustan Times 18.11.2009

Automated parking sites to be put on fast track

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi’s (MCD) plan to construct fully automated car parking sites in the city might soon see the light of the day.

The civic body plans to construct 15 automatic parking lots across the city.

While the parking sites will be underground, commercial complexes will be constructed above them.

The civic agency claims these will be India’s first automated car parking-cum-commercial complexes.

It currently maintains 143 surface parking lots that can accommodate only 15,000 vehicles at a time.

The car parking sites will be made on a design, build, finance, operate and transfer basis.

According to the civic body, the approximate cost of constructing one parking slot for a single car is Rs 13 lakh.

The parking lots will come up at Lajpat Nagar. Defence Colony, Greater Kailash I M Block, Shastri Park in Karol Bagh, Rani Bagh, South Extension Part I and II, Kutub Road, New Friends Colony, Chirag Delhi, Kalkaji among others.

The largest car parking will come up at Shastri Park, with a capacity to park 2,000 cars.

“Karol Bagh is quite congested and there is a need for a bigger parking site to meet the growing demand. This parking lot will help ease traffic also,” said a senior MCD official.

The bidders will collect parking charges and will earn revenue from the commercial complex as well, both of which will be leased out to them for 30-35 years.

A proposal in this regard will be tabled in the standing committee of the civic body on Thursday.

According to the civic body, these parking lots will come up within a span of two years.

Around 25 per cent of the space will be kept aside for a commercial complex.

Last Updated on Wednesday, 18 November 2009 11:18
 

MCD plans new underground parking lots

Wednesday, 18 November 2009 02:40 administrator
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The Hindu 18.11.2009

MCD plans new underground parking lots

Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI: In view of shrinking parking spaces in the Capital, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi is planning to construct 15 new automated underground multi-level parking lots in various parts of the city.

A proposal to approve appointment of a project consultant for four such parking sites will be tabled at the next meeting of the civic body this Thursday. The four proposed sites are Kirti Nagar, Lajpat Nagar, Karol Bagh and Greater Kailash-II. While the parking sites will be underground, a commercial complex will be constructed above them.

An MCD official said on Tuesday: “The proposal is for awarding multi-level automated parking project’s consultancy to Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System Limited. As per the contract, the firm would help the MCD in undertaking a technical study and work out its economic viability and environmental impact.” Under the contract, the civic body would be coughing up Rs.25 lakh per site to the consultant towards preparation of tender documents. “The project would be similar to the other multi-level parking projects taken up on public-private partnership basis in places like Kamla Nagar, Lajpat Nagar and South Extension and provide for an average space of 500 to 700 cars per site depending on the space.”

The bidders will collect the parking charges and also earn revenue from the commercial complex, both of which will be leased out to them for 30 to 35 years. According to the civic body, these parking lots will come up within two years and around 25 per cent of the space will be kept aside for a commercial complex.

The civic body at present maintains 143 surface parking lots that can accommodate only 15,000 vehicles at any given time.

Last Updated on Wednesday, 18 November 2009 02:42
 

The great K R Puram road trap

Monday, 16 November 2009 09:08 administrator
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The New Indian Express 16.11.2009

The great K R Puram road trap

Sharan Poovanna

BANGALORE: Picture this: three flyovers within a distance of 1 km. A railway station in the vicinity.

Bangalore’s own Hanging bridge. Huge construction zones and traffic that is bumper to bumper almost any time of the day.

For people commuting to and through K R Puram, the Hanging bridge which took four years to build and the flyovers surrounding it have failed to make travelling easy.

The traffic projections on which the bridge and the flyovers were built seem miscalculated as a majority of the vehicles take the road beside the cable bridge towards more industrial areas (ITPL).

You have to negotiate three interjecting roads, a few dodgy manoeuvres to get to the lane of choice and then finally to the road of your choice.

The Problem The four-lane road that leads to ITPL, Kolar and Marathalli from NGEF starts well, but the party ends as soon as you sink into cruise mode. Four lanes from either side converge under one railway underpass. This little space has to accommodate vehicles from both sides, from and towards the NGEF signal.

Go past this and the stream of vehicles from the Outer Ring Road join you at a crisiscross junction. Vehicles coming from Outer Ring Road and wanting to get on the Hanging Bridge have to cut through vehicles going beside the flyover towards ITPL and Marathalli.

Amidst all this there are pedestrians trying to cross the road, most of them forsaking the zebra crossing for other convenient but dangerous points.

The traffic from the other side is no better with vehicles coming from ITPL having to drive through the flow of traffic coming down the bridge towards NGEF.

A bus stop that is just before the crossing, expects its drivers to cut a 45 degree angle to get to the other side to the road that leads to Outer Ring Road.

Also, particularly dangerous is a bus stop at the beginning of the cable bridge towards Kolar, buses just stop anywhere around it than on the designated bus bay.

Faulty solutions? A speed breaker that has been built at the point of the criss-cross section of the Outer Ring Road and the road from NGEF to Kolar and ITPL has not proved to be effective.

A pedestrian crossing has been made, but has to be manned by a policeman at all hours, something not seen very often.

Both have failed to make the commute safer or faster.

New plans to the rescue The transport ministry has proposed plans to spend nearly Rs 2,500 crore to make many city roads signal free and has identified 100 junctions in the city.

The ministry has plans to make railway under passes and over bridges at the cost of Rs 355 crore.

Pedestrians are a vulnerable section as there are not too many safe points for them to cross over.

The ministry has also set aside Rs 800 crores for construction of skywalks within BBMP limits. The effectiveness of skywalks remain questionable with pedestrians not willing to do the climbing.

However, under the scheme, the ministry has proposed skywalks with escalators to make it more appealing fop pedestrian.

Last Updated on Monday, 16 November 2009 09:14
 

Municipal body unaware about decaying infrastructure, water quality at Sursagar

Sunday, 15 November 2009 00:00 administrator
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Indian Express 15.11.2009

Municipal body unaware about decaying infrastructure, water quality at Sursagar

Upbeat about restarting the boating facility at Sursagar Lake after 16 years, the Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) seems to have forgotten to upgrade the basic infrastructure at the tourist spot.

Sources said while the deal has already been finalised with Dolphin Entertainment to start paddle boat service at Sursagar, facilities like the ticket window room and the platform from where the passengers would get into the boat are in a shambles. The ticket window room is filled with garbage and the platform is stinking with the garbage filth.

The services had been withdrawn after a boat had capsized killing 22 people.

Interestingly, the senior officials are not even aware about the present state of affairs at Sursagar. In fact, the engineers have been asked to fix the broken railing only.

“A meeting was held recently and we have been informed to fix the railing which is damaged. I am not aware about the ticket window room or the filthy water,” said executive engineer (North Zone) F J CharpotThe officials did not have any answer to the stinking water. “To improve the oxygen levels in the water, we have decided to install the rotating fountain and hopefully it would be helpful in removing the stench as well,” said a senior engineer. Sources admitted that earlier input of storm water through proper channels has been stopped after drainage connections were mixed with the storm water channel. “This has stopped the fresh water in flow completely. Further, a huge quantity of china clay due to Ganesh visarjan has further deteriorated the quality of water,” a senior official said.

Last Updated on Monday, 16 November 2009 11:04
 
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