CHENNAI: If everything goes according to the plan, vehicle owners may have to pay fee for parking vehicles across Chennai metropolitan area, as the state government is planning to come up with a parking policy to reduce traffic congestion and to encourage use of public transport. This will be an umbrella policy that will cover Chennai city corporation also.
The parking policy will be drafted by Chennai Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority (CUMTA) with the help of NGO - Institute for Transportation and Development Policy. “The earlier draft policy prepared by Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) will be amalgamated into this policy,” said CUMTA special officer, I Jayakumar.
“The parking fee will be dependent on the locality. If it is in Pondy bazaar, the rates could be high, and in the outskirts, it could be less,” he said. However, these would come under parking management plan, which is being prepared with the help of World Bank.
The report will be ready by March next year,” said Jayakumar. The parking policy has also been necessitated due to huge traffic congestion following the conditional approvals given to high-rise buildings and malls by Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA).
Sources said there is a need to take up a study on how the traffic should be regulated prior to coming up with a parking policy. The state government is also looking to have a parking policy for the entire state. According to the information available, the number of vehicles in the state increased by 35% in the last four years alone, while the population only grew by 19% in 10 years - showing a much-accelerated growth of vehicles, which can be attributed to the increasing use of private vehicles.
Meanwhile, a high-level meeting chaired by chief secretary, V Irai Anbu, was held on April 3 to work out solutions for parking issues. It is learnt GCC is undertaking a study to estimate the existing parking demand in GCC zones for both on-street and offstreet parking. The consultant is likely to submit the report soon.