Parking towers to ease space crunch in South Delhi

NEW DELHI: To deal with the issue of parking in congested market areas, South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) proposes to construct automated tower parking and puzzle parking lots at Green Park, Adchini and Lajpat Nagar. These projects, expected to be completed in 6-12 months, will create parking space for over 400 cars.

“The key feature of these parking lots is that they can be constructed on a limited space. Moreover, cars will be parked using a lift so there is no need for constructing ramps, walking areas and other facilities. The steel structures can be also be dismantled if the need arises and installed at another place. These structures have comprehensive fire safety provisions too,” said SDMC commissioner Puneet Goel.





On Saturday, Union minister Nitin Gadkari laid the foundation stone for SDMC’s first tower parking lot at Green Park. “It will take less than three minutes for a person to park the vehicle at these lots. The facility at Green Park will have three towers up to 17 levels each and can accommodate 102 cars. Its operation and maintenance will be carried out by the concessionaire,” said a senior SDMC official.

Vertical parking lots are most appropriate in congested markets and populated colonies as they require just 1.5 square metres to park a car in comparison with 30 square metres required in a conventional parking lot, explained a civic official.

“We have plans to come up with automated tower parking at other places, too, as it will not just meet the need of residents, but also minimise quarrels over parking. As soon as a person parks his/her car, he or she will be issued a code, using which the driver can get back the vehicle later,” said SDMC mayor Narendra Chawla.

The civic agency will incur a cost of R 44.5 crore on the four automatic parking projects, while the operation and maintenance will be the responsibility of the concessionaire.

The municipal corporations had earlier constructed automated parking lots at Sarojini Nagar and Kamla Nagar, but the occupancy is hardly over 60%, even during weekends. In addition, due to the long waiting time involved at these lots, people tend to avoid using them.

“The parking lots at Sarojini and Kamla Nagar are actually shutter parking lots constructed on bigger plots. These are time consuming because each lift takes 10-15 minutes to place a car in an available spot,” said an SDMC official.

Learning for these setbacks, civic officials have decided to go for tower parking lots. “Here, the lift will move vertically and place the vehicle horizontally (either on left or right) depending on the availability of space. The exercise will hardly take three minutes,” an official explained.

“The parking attendant will make sure the upper racks are occupied first, keeping the lower spaces free,” he added.