NMMC initiates comprehensive parking study

The Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) is conducting a comprehensive study on parking in the city to improve mobility and address the growing parking crisis. The study will focus on both short-term and long-term solutions, including identifying more parking spaces and constructing multi-level parking. The survey will be conducted by an external agency and will begin next month. The findings will be used to develop a parking policy and determine future actions such as increasing parking charges.

Navi Mumbai

Navi Mumbai, India - July 23, 2023:NMMC Pay & Park at Sector - 16 &17 Vashi in Navi Mumbai, India, on Sunday, July 23, 2023. (Photo by Bachchan Kumar/ HT PHOTO) (HT PHOTO)

The Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) has charted out a strategy to come up with an all-encompassing data and analytical study on parking situation in the city. The factors to be studied are ways to improve mobility of vehicles, identify the demand and supply of parking in specific locations as well as residential areas.

With over 4% (RTO) growth registered in vehicular population as per the 2021-22 records of Regional Transport Office , the joint meeting convened with the presence of traffic police as well RTO has helped NMMC to come up with a time bound plan to resolve the parking crisis.

NMMC presently has about 505 km of road within its jurisdiction.

“The need for an all comprehensive parking policy has become the need of the hour as the nature of traffic congestion seen all across the city road is becoming severe day by day. Through the meeting with all the concerned authorities that included the traffic police, engineering department, NMMC and even RTO the idea of the joint meeting was to come up with a strategy,” said the Municipal Commissioner Rajesh Narvekar.

City engineer Sanjay Desai explains the two parts of the strategy. “ In the short term segment the focus will be to provide relief in day to day parking issues this includes identifying more pay and park or odd and even parking lanes, working out monthly passes for vehicles parked in residential areas, streamline parking in market places etc. In the long term plan the focus of the survey will be to identify scientific means to increase the parking capacity through multi-level parking, constructing parking lots which means identifying vacant plots etc,” said Desai.

This will be the second time that NMMC is trying to assimilate information on parking. In 2016-17, there was a similar attempt to conduct a city survey which was largely done by the engineering department. This time the administration, however, has decided to outsource the activity. The survey process is stated to commence from next month and in addition to the agency the work to study the city’s parking condition is entrusted upon the ward officer, executive engineer, traffic police inspector. Of the 505 meter road belonging to NMMC, the focus of the survey will be on 327 kilometer of road wherein the width of the road is identified to be 11 meters.

“The manpower required for this survey is going to be huge as the data required is going to be extensive. The focus will not be on just day to day findings instead it could be even on an hourly basis too. The survey in the next three months will focus on the minutest aspect leading to traffic congestion and causing problems in parking vehicles. All of this information put together will be the basis for administration to decide upon aspects such as having fixed parking spots and even determine whether to increase the parking charges,” said a senior official.