Chennai to get parking for 4 lakh cars, bikes

CHENNAI: The government has come up with an ambitious plan to provide parking facilities to accommodate two lakh four-wheelers and two lakh two-wheelers, keeping the population of 2045 in mind. The Rs 2,000 crore comprehensive integrated parking management project, announced by deputy chief minister O Pannerselvam in the assembly on Friday, will involve setting up new facilities and improving old ones in areas such as at T Nagar, Koyambedu, Thiruvanmiyur, Velachery, Shenoy Nagar, Saidapet and Perungudi.

The project, to be implemented under the public-private partnership mode, will be financed by the Tamil Nadu Infrastructure Fund Management Cooperation. A common policy on parking for all agencies will also be framed, Pannerselvam said.

Greater Chennai Corporation corporation commissioner told TOI that under the smart city mission, multi-level car parking facilities would come up at Sivanganam Street and Thanickachalam Road in T Nagar, and Uthamar Gandhi Salai (Nungambakkam High Road) and that some progress had already been made on the proposed facility on Thanickachalam Road. “We had identified about 44,000 equivalent car spaces across 471 bus route roads. The government is introducing the policy, keeping in mind the city’s vehicular population 25-30 years from now. Discussions for this had begun several years ago in meetings of Chennai Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority (CUMTA). All agencies will be a part of it,” he said.

One of the major projects to be taken up under this would be the on-street parking management system which will ensure that parking on road will be charged. “A pilot project at Anna Nagar has already begun. Once this is implemented across the city, need for multi-level car parking lots and underground parking facilities will increase. So infrastructure for it would be developed. Chennai Metro Rail Ltd has already planned two underground parking facilities at Shenoy Nagar and Central stations,” said an official.

A few urban planners, however, spoke against the proposal, saying pumping in so much money for parking infrastructure was unnecessary. “Parking is an issue which needs to be managed and it is a major revenue generating source. Instead of spending so much on just one city, a policy should be framed,” said an official.