The Times of India         17.09.2010

Highrises likely to have multi-level parking

CHANDIGARH: Exasperated looking for parking space in Gurgaon? Putting your car in a secure slot may be a wee bit easier now, with amendments in policy for buildings likely to come up soon. This will relax building bye-laws to give Gurgaon residents and those coming in for work a breather.

The amendments brought about by the Haryana town and country planning department will impact new sectors in Gurgaon, Faridabad and Manesar.

With this, multi-storey buildings can have four levels of parking, with the parking area being excluded from calculating the floor area ratio (FAR).

Sources say the move followed a review that indicated a rapid increase in number of vehicles registered in the city and the number of vehicles coming into cities in the National Capital Region.

Drafted and approved last year, the amended policy was notified in the last week of August, said officials in the town and country planning department. This is for the third time that the department has altered the policy to keep pace with the increasing demand for parking space in main cities of Haryana.

In case of group housing, the changes mandate that builders will make provisions for parking of more cars. In a bid to provide more space for parking, the norm has been changed to allow just 40 square metre parking space per car from the earlier 75 square metre space per car in new buildings to come. In commercial areas, this would be 50 square metre per car.

Owners of existing buildings have also been allowed to construct an extra floor for parking by making alterations in the existing building.

This policy would benefit not just people in Gurgaon but also the upcoming Industrial Model Townships (IMT) of the state, said TC Gupta, director, town and country planning department.