CHENNAI: In a bid to ease parking problems, town planners have proposed five multi-level parking lots totally worth Rs 75 crore at five important locations in the city. Presenting a paper ‘Managing Parking Issues in Chennai', on the occasion of the golden jubilee year of the Institute of Town Planners, India, Tamil Nadu Regional Chapter, Chennai, A Shankar, senior vice-president – Strategic Consulting Jones Lang LaSalle, Chennai, India – said the areas identified for the proposed facility included the Broadway Bus Stand, MUC Ground, Parry’s Corner, Government Estate Anna Salai, Adyar Gandhi Nagar Bus Terminus and the T Nagar Bus Terminus.
Shankar said the multi-level parking system would maximize parking capacity by utilising vertical space, rather than expanding horizontally.
The facility at the Broadway Bus Stand is worth `14.80 crore and will have seven floors capable of accommodating 69 buses, 369 cars and 310 two wheelers. Similarly, the `28.88-crore system at the MUC Ground in Parry’s Corner will have five floors that would accommodate 576 cars and 178 two-wheelers.
Also, there is a proposal to a build `11.17-crore six-floor multi-level parking lot at the Government Estate on Anna Salai. This will have the capacity to accommodate 426 cars. The other two include a `5.62 crore single-floor parking lot at the Gandhi Nagar Bus Terminus and another one at the T Nagar Bus Terminus at a cost of `16.62 crore.
Shankar, whose firm Jones Lang LaSalle India is providing suggestions to the authorities and developers on parking solutions, said the recent introduction of automated parking meters in four of Chennai’s key locations could set a new dimension of parking discipline. “However, there is still lack of awareness,” he added.