Work still not allotted: Why you can’t book e-parking slots before next year in Gurugram

GURUGRAM: The Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) plans to kick off the pilot of the “smart” parking project in Sector 44 next year, said officials, adding that the authority floated a tender for the work earlier this week.

After allotting the work, it will take nearly six months to execute the pilot. “We floated the tender for the pilot, but allotting the work will take at least a month, and it will take another six months to execute the work on the ground, so the pilot is unlikely to be ready before next year,” said a senior GMDA official.
According to the tender, the pilot entails creating 1,810 parking slots in Sector 44, an area in the vicinity of the Huda City Centre metro station and housing several educational institutions, hotels, and commercial spaces. Of the total slots, 1,372 parking spaces will be on the street, i.e., individually-marked parking slots without a boundary wall or a defined entry and exit point. The remaining 438 parking spaces will be off the street, i.e., in a demarcated area designated for parking near a street or a road, with proper fencing and pre-defined entry and exit points. The off-street parking spaces will also have boom barriers to prevent users from entering the lot without a ticket and exiting without payment.
The “smart” parking initiative has been on the GMDA planning board for over a year. It aims to ensure a parking management and guidance system, which will give commuters accurate information on all available parking spots in real-time and the directions to reach there, as well as allow them to pay on the spot or reserve spots in advance. All these facilities will be available on a dedicated web portal or a mobile application.
The GMDA initially considered adopting “smart” parking in Udyog Vihar, Sadar Bazaar and near Rajiv Chowk. However, its plan fell through because other agencies were already creating parking facilities at Udyog Vihar and Sadar Bazar, and the land near Rajiv Chowk did not belong to the authority. Officials subsequently narrowed down on Sector 44 for the pilot. A GMDA survey has revealed that the daily parking demand in the area is 3,088 slots, 1,908 on and 1,180 off the street. “We are now focused on pulling off the pilot project smoothly. There is no plan for smart parking in any other areas currently. We will see how helpful the pilot is in resolving the parking issues. Depending on its success, we will look to replicate our efforts in other places later,” said the GMDA official.