Future perfect: MCD plans parking solution with new facilities

New Delhi: Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) is preparing for one of the city’s biggest parking infrastructure expansion in recent years, including 49 surface parking and nine multilevel projects in some of the most congested markets and traffic-choked zones.

From the jam-packed commercial lanes of Karol Bagh to the crowded stretches of Rohini, Najafgarh and city-SP zone, MCD has begun identifying land parcels, with proposals already under process and clearances being sought from multiple land-owning agencies, a senior official said. The entire project is likely to be completed in two-three years, he added.

Officials said 25 locations were being selected for multilevel parking, of which nine proposals were at an advanced stage involving investments running into hundreds of crores.

At the centre of the plan is a massive multilevel facility at Idgah metro station near the heavily congested Sadar-Paharganj commercial belt, an area notorious for wholesale market traffic, roadside parking and daily bottlenecks.

Spread across nearly 23,000 square metres, the proposed ramp-type parking will accommodate around 2,100 equivalent car spaces at an estimated cost of Rs 346 crore, making it one of the largest parking infrastructure proposals under consideration in the city.

The facility is proposed on the land of an old slaughterhouse. Initially planned under Chief Minister Development Fund, it will be now built under a public-private partnership model.

Another major proposal is a Rs 80-crore puzzle-type automated parking at L.U. block in Pitampura under Keshav Puram zone. The project is awaiting the land-use approval as the plot belongs to the education department.

Another puzzle-type multilevel parking system, costing around Rs 40 crore, has been proposed at U.V. block in Shalimar Bagh, while a G+4 parking at Babarpur in Shahdara North is planned at around Rs 31 crore.

A Rs 380-crore multilevel parking has been proposed at the community centre in Preet Vihar Market under Shahdara South zone, while projects are also being pursued in Karol Bagh, Madipur and Rani Bagh -- areas where parking shortage routinely triggers traffic snarls, encroaches upon carriageways and worsens congestion during peak hours.

“Delhi’s roads are under tremendous pressure because of the increasing vehicle numbers while road space remains limited. One of the biggest reasons behind congestion today is unorganised parking. Vehicles occupy carriageways, market roads and even intersections, reducing the effective width of roads and slowing traffic movement across the city,” the official said.

He pointed out that land availability continued to be one of the biggest hurdles in a densely populated city like Delhi. “Many suitable sites belong to different land-owning agencies, so obtaining clearances and NOCs takes time. But the process is moving and several proposals are under examination,” he said. “We are trying to ensure that future parking demand is addressed before the situation becomes unmanageable.”

Among the 49 surface parking proposals, five are in Karol Bagh, eight in City-SP zone, three in Rohini and 10 in Najafgarh. A few are also planned in Civil Lines, Shahdara North and South, West, Keshav Puram and Central zones.

Officials said many of these sites had already been identified, while inspections and feasibility studies were underway in several other areas where vacant roadside land, open plots and market-side spaces were being assessed for conversion into organised parking facilities.

“In several cases, site inspections are complete. We are coordinating with agencies such as DDA, PWD and different civic departments for no objection certificates. Once the land-owning agencies grant clearance, the proposals are sent for traffic approval and further processing,” the official said.

Officials maintained that the exercise was only the beginning of a much larger parking expansion plan being worked out across the city. “This is not the end of the plan. More locations are continuously being identified because Delhi’s parking crisis is growing every year with the rising vehicle ownership,” the official said.

Currently, Delhi has 30 multilevel parking facilities, while MCD operates 419 surface parking sites.