THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A Lack of parking space in the capital city, especially in busy areas, continues to cause headache for commuters. On top of that, the police are on a fining spree, penalising people for unauthorised parking.
While the multi-level car parking (MLCP) built on the city corporation premises could solve people’s problems to an extent, the civic body has not yet opened it. Reason: It is yet to fix the rate it will charge users for the facility that was inagurated by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in October 2020.
The construction of another MLCP, the one at Putharikandam maidan, has been stopped halfway with only the piling done. So, people remain at the receiving end as they cannot park their vehicles, especially at MG road and on the LMS-Vellayambalam stretch.
“We have several parking facilities but the authorities have closed it citing Smart Road maintenance works. Police are not allowing people to park on the roadside and are penalising them. We urge the corporation to open the MLCP on the corporation premises and finish other under-construction MLCPs immediately,” said Shelly Raveendran, member of ‘Awake Trivandrum’, an NGO working for the development of the capital city. A senior city corporation official said a steering committee meeting would be held next week and it will take a final decision on hourly parking rates.
“At present, people other than the corporation staff can park vehicles at the MLCP. However, we have not given it much publicity. For, it would create chaos as many people will start parking their vehicles there. We have decided to officially announce the parking facility here after finalising the rates. As for the MLCP project at Putharikandam maidan, only piling has been done as it comes under the Smart City project and the Smart City officials are currently giving priority to other components like auditorium and landscaping at Putharikandam. They will begin construction of the MLCP only after completing these works,” said the official.
In September, the corporation had said the MLCP on the corporation office premises would open within two weeks. Nothing happened. The same month, Transport Minister Antony Raju directed the corporation to initiate steps to open the MLCP to the public to mitigate their parking woes to an extent.
Though inaugurated in 2020, the MLCP was not opened to the public over the delay in setting up the software integrated system and in getting no-objection certificates from the Fire and Rescue Services and the Electrical Inspectorate departments. Load testing of vehicles was also done in September at the corporation office MLCP, which was built for Rs 5.64 crore by Sieger Spintech Equipment Pvt Ltd.
The seven-storey facility can accommodate 110 cars at a time. It is equipped with a semi-automated multi-level car parking system that uses ‘puzzle parking’ technology, internal and external electrical installations, fire alarm, fire-fighting system with sump and landscaping and allied works.
The MLCP project at Putharikandam Maidan is expected to cost Rs 12 crore and would be the largest parking facility, having space to park 210 cars and 240 two-wheelers at a time. The two-wheeler parking facility would be built using the corporation’s funds.
MLCPs would also come upon the old paid parking lot of the railways at Thampanoor, Medical College Hospital premises, public office premises at Vellayambalam and at the parking lot at Palayam behind the Saphalyam complex. The corporation official said their next priority is to complete the MLCP at Palayam.
Oct 2020
The facility was inagurated in October 2020 by the chief minister. The multi-level car parking could solve people’s problems to an extent. Reason for not opening it is that the corporation is yet to fix the user fee.