Hyderabad: 42 multilevel parking sites a distant dream

Hyderabad: While the city is running out of parking spaces, the Hyderabad Metro Rail Limited, which is the executive body to construct 42 multilevel parking complexes in the city has put the project in cold storage.

Out of the 42, the HMRL has managed to start work on one last year though it is still in its initial stages of construction. Officials claimed that they have identified sites, finalised designs for the remaining and sent these to state government for approval. It has been pending there since a year.

Highly placed sources said that Chief Secretary S.K. Joshi discussed the issue and directed the HMRL to re-examine and change the earlier designs submitted to state government. He said that government departments will identify land to construct the complexes and hand them over to the the HMRL.

During the meeting convened in June, Mr Joshi said each parking complex should be unique to local needs and all required features should be in terms of reference (ToR) of the expression of interest.

HMRL authorities said that the designs have already been prepared a year ago a few changes made in them and they were sent to government for final approval. They said that the HMRL will immediately float tenders for the remaining parking complexes once it received approval from government.

Prior to floating tenders a meeting will be conducted with all city departments in order get hassle free approvals from the fire department, Airport Authority of India (AIA), Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation and others.

Authorities said that the construction of a parking complex at Nampally has been delayed due to lack of co-ordination between city departments. They said that fire department has issued permission after six months.

The project which has been grounded at Nampally over 2,000 square metres by a private agency which won the bid under the Design, Build, Finance, Operate and Transfer (DBFOT) mode at a cost of about `60 crore with a concession period of 50 years.

The multilevel complex is being built to accommodate 250 cars automatically and 100 two-wheelers manually.

Interestingly, three of the floors will be underground, another seven floors above ground constituting 60 per cent built up area only for vehicles. The other five floors will be  commercial spaces amounting to about 35 per cent of the built up area.

A senior HMRL official said that the remaining parking complexes will have slight changes in design and will cater to the needs of the locality.