BMP scales down JC Road parking complex design

BMP scales down JC Road parking complex design
Deccan Herald

The new structure will not have any commercial space and will be utilised entirely for parking.

After a delay of over 11 years, Bangalore Mahanagara Palike’s (BMP) car parking complex on JC Road has now been cut down to half its size and the proposed commercial space has just vanished from the plan.

The complex, originally planned to be a five-storey structure to be built at a cost of Rs 8 crore (excluding ground and basement) and with the capacity to park 600 vehicles at a time, will now be only a two-storey structure (excluding ground and basement) with a 240-car capacity – if at all the long-delayed project is ever completed. The BMP has so far spent Rs 3.5 crore on it. This is despite the BMP taking up the work to strengthen the existing foundation of the complex, which was found to be “weak” to sustain a five-storey building based on the findings by Torsteel Research Foundation in India, a city-based leading civil engineering firm. “The existing foundation is strong enough to sustain only a two-storey building. For a five-storey structure a new foundation has to be laid,” BMP sources told Deccan Herald.

The contractor who undertook the construction first in 1994 withdrew from the project after laying the foundation due to some administrative reasons.

Till 1998 the BMP kept the project on the back burner, only to declare that the foundation is weak and substandard.

Subsequently, as many as three contractors who took up the project also backed out after doing only a part of the work. Contractors were apparently worried about the substandard foundation, which they wanted the BMP to rectify, officials said.

The issue of the strength of a building, especially the JC Complex, assumed significance following the collapse of a portion of the Ejipura Economically Weaker Section quarters’ one-and-half-years ago when two persons lost their lives. The quarters came crushing down owing to faulty engineering. As a result, the BMP decided to implement the report by Torsteel to strengthen the foundation. However, the BMP will not be able to construct a four-storey building as planned. In fact, it has given up the idea to have shops at the complex so that the space can be used to accommodate additional parking. “There will not be shops at the complex. The entire structure will be utilised for parking,” BMP Technical Advisor R Jaiprasad said.

There are different views on whether to go ahead with the original plan or not. “We will soon take a final decision in this regard,” he added. Mr Jaiprasad said space for two-wheeler parking, besides four-wheelers, will be allotted at the available space in the complex, as against the original plan.