Two parking facilities set to open in Delhi by month-end

The facility at GK-I, which can accommodate 399 vehicles, is likely to be inaugurated on September 27, while the facility at Punjabi Bagh, which can host 225 vehicles, is set to open on September 25

New Delhi

The congester M Block market. (HT Archive)

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has completed the construction of two multilevel parking lots, at Punjabi Bagh on the Ring Road and at Greater Kailash-1 M Block market, and these new automated parking facilities—with cumulative capacity to hold more than 600 vehicles—are likely to be open to the public by the month-end, civic officials said.

The facility at GK-I, which can accommodate 399 vehicles, is likely to be inaugurated on September 27, while the facility at Punjabi Bagh, which can host 225 vehicles, is set to open on September 25, officials said.

Shopping hub

The much-delayed ₹63.7 crore project, construction on which started in 2022, is expected to accommodate 399 vehicles and provide relief to visitors in one of the busiest shopping centres in south Delhi.

MCD officials said that the multilevel car parking project in M Block was conceptualised almost a decade ago—to address the frequent traffic jams in the area around the market—but it remained stuck at the planning stage due to a lack of consensus over the scale and design of the parking facility.

The project was finally approved by the erstwhile South MCD in November 2021 and construction was started in March 2022. The erstwhile South MCD had announced that the project would be completed in 18 months, but it has been delayed.

A civic official said that a small section of the project was pending due to tree-cutting permission from the forest department, as the Delhi High Court ordered a stay on all new permissions.

“MCD has received approval from HC, following which an inspection was conducted by the tree officer. The final permission letter is likely to come any day and the trees will be transplanted, besides 180 additional saplings planted by the horticulture department,” the official said.

The parking facility is spread across 2,240 square metres, will be an eight-storey structure and have a capacity to accommodate 57 cars on each floor.

Traffic hot spot

Development work at the west Delhi’s Punjabi Bagh multilevel parking facility is complete and the pending clearances have been received, senior MCD officials said.

The project comprises a five-storey puzzle parking, which will accommodate around 225 cars and help decongest a key intersection that has the largest crematorium in west Delhi, and a theme park, necessitating parking space.

A senior corporation official said that the facility is spread across 5,150 square metres, and is strategically located next to the Bharat Darshan Park, which has a high footfall. The ground plus five-floor parking facility is 14.50 metres high, and it has been built at an estimated cost of about ₹31 crore.

The MCD-run Punjabi Bagh cremation ground, which is the second largest funeral facility in the city, currently has surface parking space for around 80 vehicles. The foundation stone for this car park was laid in July 2022.