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.