New Delhi, June 12: After many delays, the national capital's second automated multi-level car parking (MLCP) with a capacity of 1,408 vehicles was thrown open for public today.
Home Minister P Chidambaram and Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit inaugurated the 10-floor MLCP, Capitol Point, constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 120 crore under the model by NDMC and real estate major DLF.
The facility is located at Baba Kharag Singh Marg near Connaught Place, one of Delhi's busiest commercial hub.
Addressing the gathering, Chidambaram said as the number of vehicles on city roads are increasing and leading to congestion, projects like this will help the public make optimal use of land and help in tackling such problems.
“The sub-optimal use of land in Indian cities is no more an option, this MLCP is an example of optimal use of land,” Chidambaram said, adding that its matter of pride that the technology for the MLCP has been developed by Indian engineers and technologists.
The New Delhi Municipal Council was to built two MLCPs at Sarojini Nagar and Baba Kharak Singh Marg before the Commonwealth Games 2010, but the work got delayed due to difficulty in getting necessary clearances.
The ground and the first floors will have retail outlets and restaurants while rest of the floors from two to nine - would be used for parking purpose. The parking fee will be Rs 10 per hour.
The facility was scheduled to open in January, but got delayed since its trials were not completed on time. NDMC then decided to open it in April this year, but again missed the deadline.
A 824 vehicle capacity MLCP has already been commissioned at south Delhi's Sarojini Nagar market.
Dikshit said that about 1,000 vehicles are added on the city roads everyday and about 15 lakh people daily commute to commercial complexes and government offices in the NDMC area.
As the parking areas are limited, it has become a major problem.
“Most of the parking facilities existing in NDMC area are on surface and scope for increase in the surface parking facilities appears remote. The only alternative is to improve the utilisation of available space by development of this type of MLCPs,” the Delhi chief minister said.
Dikshit also suggest that DLF and NDMC should begin eco-friendly bus shuttle service from the MLCP to Connaught Place and adjoining office and market areas for maximum utilisation of the parking facility.
The total area acquired for the project was 6,085.5 square metre and the 37.5 metre high Capitol Point has a total area of 33,633.28 square metre.
“We are confident that this parking facility will ease the parking situation at Baba Kharak Singh Marg near Connaught Place,” NDMC chairperson Archna Arora said.
According to NDMC, the parking has lifts, palettes and computerised control systems. The driver would get full details from the information board immediately after reaching the main gate.
The information of the parking vehicle would be recorded on a camera. The driver would have to take their car to the channel palette from where it would be taken to an empty parking space with the help of the lifts.
NDMC said many more such projects are in the pipeline to ease parking problems in the city.
