Chandni Chowk parking project: Delhi north civic body recovers additional ₹41.27 crore

The North Delhi Municipal Corporation has recovered an additional cost of ₹41.27 crore from the contractor in charge of Chandni Chowk’s Gandhi Maidan parking lot and shopping complex project on account of a delay in payments, a senior municipal official overseeing the project said.

The project aims to provide parking space for 2,100 vehicles and 80 tourist buses besides developing a large commercial complex with modern amenities in the walled city. As part of the project, which is being developed in Public-Private Partnership (PPP) mode, the civic body will lease out the commercial portion of the Gandhi Maidan parking lot to the builder, along with 25% car parking space abutting the commercial section after the project is completed.

A report municipal commissioner Sanjay Goel filed in the House last month, a copy of which was seen by HT, said that under the agreement the builder was to deposit a total of ₹445 crore in four instalments for this project.

The first instalment of ₹111.25 crore was to be paid at the time of the agreement, with subsequent instalments at fixed intervals. The delay in payment led to show-cause notices and additional recovery by the civic body.

“There is a provision of issuing a show-cause notice under Article 10.2 of the agreement and this regards a show-cause notice that was issued to the builder. Rupees 41.27 crore have been recovered in the form of interest from the builder on account of delayed deposit in instalments,” the report by Goel said.

The report was filed based on questions asked by municipal councillor Poonam from Ward 21-N Jahangirpuri.

The municipal councillor had also asked if the parking and shopping complex had been built according to the plans and rules of the corporation, to which the commissioner responded stating that they would inspect the construction after the completion of the work. In the meantime, he said, the ongoing construction work was in accordance with the plans passed by the civic body.

A senior municipal official from the engineering department said that the entire principal amount, as well as the interest, have been recovered from the builder and, so far, a total amount of ₹486.27 crore has been deposited by the builder. “The project is likely to be completed by July 2022 and the large-scale addition of parking space will help in decongestion of the Chandni Chowk commercial area while acting as a major revenue source for the corporation,” a senior municipal official overseeing the project said.

In a bid to meet the parking demands in one of the largest wholesale and retail hubs in Chandni Chowk, the north MCd has allotted around 4.5 acres of land to the private builder. As part of the project, the builder will develop a 10 lakh sq ft area with five levels of parking and three levels of retail space.