In the works since 2010, Jangpura parking still unfinished

Ahead of the 2010 Commonwealth Games (CWG), the unified MCD had commissioned nine such parking projects in the city, including the one in Jangpura

The Jangpura multi-level parking project – in the works since 2010 – is expected to witness another delay as the Municipal Corporation of Delhi’s (MCD’s) revised assessment of the project now indicates that an additional ₹20 crore is needed to complete it.

The three-storey underground parking project, with a holding capacity of 308 vehicles, is located near Jangpura block-A and Jangpura Extension in south Delhi. (Sanchit Khanna/HT Photo)

This, after the a dispute between the contractor and the MCD paused work. The three-storey underground parking project, with a holding capacity of 308 vehicles, is located near Jangpura block-A and Jangpura Extension in south Delhi. A local resident said there has been no work at the parking for the past at least three years.

Ahead of the 2010 Commonwealth Games (CWG), the unified MCD had commissioned nine such parking projects in the city, including the one in Jangpura. Of the nine parking lots, those in Hauz Khas, Subhash Nagar, and New Friends Colony are currently functioning in the city.

A senior MCD official, overseeing the parking development projects in Delhi, said that the work on the underground parking lot in Jangpura could not be completed due toa dispute with the contractor. “We have blacklisted the company and forfeited its security deposits. The matter is also being pursued legally. A penalty of around ₹5.5 crore has been imposed on the company, and we are planning to float the tenders to hire a new company to complete the project,” the official stated.

Since work began on this project over a decade ago, it’s been marred by several delays, especially between 2016 and 2108, mostly due to disputes between the erstwhile South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) and the contractor over payments.

The MCD has faced flak from affected residents of Jangpura over this delay, as the project was supposed to be completed by 2014. Anil Goswami, a resident, said, “This pending project needs immediate attention as the site is full of filth and gets inundated with stagnant water during the monsoon.”

The initial estimated cost was ₹36 crores and it has seen multiple revisions.

The MCD official told HT that as per the revised estimates prepared by the remunerative projects cell of the MCD, the revised cost of the project is estimated to be Rs127 crore. “The previous contractors have completed development work worth around ₹108 crore and we will have to float tenders for completion of remaining work which will come out to be around ₹20 crore,” he added. The civic body will need approval of the standing committee for revised expenditure.

Interestingly, while the project missed the 2014 deadline, it did get partially “inaugurated” ahead of the 2017 MCD elections. The event was attended by Shyam Sharma, then mayor of South MCD Shyam Sharma; Mahesh Giri, member of Parliament; Ajay Maken, the-then Delhi Congress chief; and Sandeep Dikshit, MP, as indicated in the black granite plaque outside the locked gates. The parking lot, however, has not been open for a single day to residents.

Rajender Chaudhary, a security guard employed at the nearby Bhogal market, spoke about the 2017 “inauguration” of the parking lot. He said, “Once the 2017 MCD polls were over, it was back to square one. The market has never been able to reach its full potential due to the lack of parking space. The whole area is jam-packed in the evening, and it takes hours to get out here.”

Praveen Arora, who heads the Jangpura-A residents welfare association (RWA), laments how it’s become difficult for residents to park their own cars in front of their homes. “People visiting the market or a bank nearby park their car outside our homes and we are left to scramble for space. There are increased arguments among neighbours and finding parking space remains a headache, even as a solution sits right in front of our eyes,” he said.

The gates of the parking lot are locked, and vehicles are parked in a haphazard manner outside it. The inner colony roads in Jangpura-A and Jangpura Extension are crammed with vehicles that encroach half the road. Meanwhile, traffic from the busy Bhogal market nearby adds to the pressure on the limited space.

Residents rue that over the years, the colony has turned into a giant, unregulated parking lot. HT found out that while most of the structure of three-storey underground facility is complete, electrical equipment and the air circulation system haven’t yet been put in place.

The lower levels of the parking lot are plunged in darkness, with garbage left over by people who’ve illegally broken into the facility. The ground floor of the parking lot is being used by washermen to dry clothes.

Residents complain that the project has also led to the neighbourhood losing its green space. Laxmi Narayan, general secretary of the Bhogal-Jangpura RWA, said that the parking area under construction used to be a green patch with a dispensary earlier. “In response to an RTI that we had filed, the MCD stated that 84 fully grown trees were chopped for the project... We just can’t understand why this project is stuck” he said.