The Indian Express    04.09.2012

With no takers for parking lots, Municipal Corp facing losses

Having earned money in crores through auctioning of paid parking
lots, the Municipal Corporation (MC) is at present facing losses with no
contractor willing to take up charge of these lots. While five paid
parking lots were already vacant for the past few months, the contractor
at Empire Store parking lot Sector 17 gave up charge today. Even as the
civic body has failed to find a solution to the problem, the parking
situation in different sectors is quite chaotic.

Four paid parking lots in different sectors have been lying
vacant since January. While attempts were made to auction these parking
lots more than once, the prices received though more than the reserve
price were less than the highest bid received for the lots in the
previous auctions. Due to this the auction observers decided that these
parking lots would not be allotted to the contractors.

During the auction of paid parking lots held in 2010, Municipal
Corporation earned a revenue of Rs 3.43 crore through 12 paid parking
lots. There are a total of 23 paid parking lots in the city. In the
subsequent auctions the prices have witnessed a downslide. Another
auction held in the same year was not as successful as the one held
earlier. This year attempts were made to auction five paid parking lots
that had become vacant. However, the auction was canceled after the bid
amount received was less than the auction prices in the previous
auctions.

The subsequent attempts at auctioning was a greater failure since
no contractor even applied for taking part in the auctions. With the
parking lots lying vacant, MC is facing losses of up to Rs 5 lakh a
month. The contractors recently met the Municipal Commissioner and
submitted a list of demands. They have demanded a change in policies of
the civic body for the parking lots to be taken up by the contractors.

A contractor says, “The contractors do not manage to save much after
paying the civic body. There is a need for increasing the rate of the
paid parking. These should be made on hourly basis. At present after
paying Rs 5 for four-wheelers and Rs 2 for two-wheelers, people park
their vehicles throughout the day. If charges are on hourly basis it
would prevent people from unnecessarily parking their vehicles in
markets making space for more vehicles.”

The contractors have further demanded that there should be
separate parking arrangements for the shopkeepers in different sectors.
The space can instead be used for the visitors to the market and it
would reduce congestion. The contractors rue the fines being imposed and
a new condition as per which the allotment of the parking lot could be
canceled in case the contractors are challaned five times.

The conditions of parking in the city are, meanwhile quite
chaotic. Vehicles are haphazardly parked. There is a lack of attendants
to guide people who are parking their vehicles. The experiment of the
civic body of introducing token system in two Sector 17 parking lots has
also failed. The aim was that parking would be allowed as per the
number of slots available after issuing a token. This is not being
followed. The charge of managing the parking lots has recently been
shifted to the Enforcement Department.

Additional Commissioner, MC, Lalit Siwach says, “The contractors
are complaining about the terms and conditions that have been framed by
the MC. These are being looked into and a policy would be framed that
would be conducive for the contractors as well as beneficial for the
residents.