More parking spaces for city

More parking spaces for city
The BCC has plans to put up five more multi-storeyed car parks
The TImes of India

Now, it is four months since the Bangalore City Corporation (BCC) lifted the pay-and-park scheme. Many Bangaloreans heaved a sigh of relief as they were a harassed lot by parking attendants. But the commuters are still hassled. Reason: no parking space. To mend this problem to a considerable level, the BCC will unveil a few more parking lots in the city.

It may be recalled here that recently the BCC inaugurated a multi-storeyed car parkingcum-commercial complex in a joint venture near K G Road at a cost of Rs 9 crores. With this the BCC has three multistoreyed car parks in the kitty that are operational, the other being J C Road complex and Magrath Road facility. This year the authority has planned five more across the city and funds for the project has already been earmarked under this year's annual budgetary allocations.

Speaking on the initiatives, Bangalore's Mayor R Narayanaswamy said, "the city is developing in all directions and we have witnessed an enormous increase in numbers of vehicles on the roads. This has led to a strain on road space and its utilisation. While the public transport vehicles have specified locations for short and long time stop overs, private vehicle owners park their vehicles on the roads. With the city becoming a paradise for shoppers, the demand for parking has increased. So, in the last couple of years we are adding multi-storeyed car parks in the city".

The J C Road complex with a capacity to park 400 cars was constructed at a cost of Rs 6 crores. Now, the authority has called for tenders to operate the parking complex. The official said the annual contract for this complex will be at least Rs 22 lakhs. The Magarath Road complex is fully automated, set up at a cost of Rs 40 crores with ground plus four floors, the first of its kind in Bangalore.

Speaking on the new complexes being planned, BCC's Technical Advisor Jaiprasad said, "the five new complexes will come up at Modern Workshop (City Shed), Broadway Road (Shivajinagar), Malleswaram Market, Lakkasandra, and Seshadripuram. Work on Malleswaram Market and Seshadripuram multi-storeyed car parks will begin first and the others will be taken up subsequently".

He said tenders for the multi-storeyed car park at Malleswaram Market (Sampige Road) have been called and it is in the process of finalisation. According to the plan, the existing market will be demolished and new shops will be provided on the ground floor. The parking will be provided on the first, second, and third floors. The final cost of the project is yet to be arrived at. In the case of Seshadripuram, the multi-storeyed car park will come up on the existing police station space. A new police station will be built on the plot and over that parking space will be provided.

Commercial complexes
The BCC has also planned commercial complexes under joint venture in various places in the city. Bakshi Garden, Davis Road, Gandhi Bazaar, Hombe Gowda Nagar, Kittur Rani Chennama Circle (Padmanabha Nagar), Pottery Town, Airport Road (Kodihalli), Seshadripuram, and Yediyur New Market are places where these complexes will come up. The authority will also renovate Cubbon Market and Johnson Market. Detailed reports for the projects have been prepared and the costing is being worked out.