Smart parking facility inaugurated to ease traffic congestion in Vijayawada

VIJAYAWADA: The much-awaited ‘smart parking’ facility mooted by the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) to curb traffic menace on the busy stretches was made operational in 20 locations across the city on Thursday.

City Mayor Koneru Sreedhar along with municipal commissioner J Nivas formally inaugurated the facility at basement of Kaleswara Rao Vegetable Market Complex, I Town here on Thursday. Speaking on the occasion, Sreedhar said Vijayawada is the first city in the State to implement the ‘smart parking’ facility after metropolitan cities like Chennai and Bengaluru. The project was aimed at preventing the motorists fleeced by the private contractors.

In this regard, Chennai-based Smart Parking India Pvt Ltd was entrusted with the task of maintaining the parking lots in 20 locations under on and off street categories to meet the heavy parking demand in the city, he said. The project was being implemented at an estimated cost of Rs 2.25 crore and the civic body earns reasonable revenue from the contract entrusted firm.

Nivas informed that ‘Smart Parking’ facility was developed in the city as per the local conditions and in first phase the facility was made operational at basement of Kaleswara Rao Vegetable Market Complex. ‘’With the new facility, it has become easy for motorists to know about parking place available before they start from home. Motorists can download the mobile app from Play Store (Android users), through which they can check for vacant slots and book a slot, following which they will have 10 minutes to occupy the space before it lapses,’’ the commissioner said. The civic chief said the surface of the pavement will be fixed with vehicle detection sensors.