Navi Mumbai to get 56 smart parking lots

Navi Mumbai: To counter the mounting parking woes, the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) has planned 56 modern parking lots in the city

Navi Mumbai: To counter the mounting parking woes, the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) has planned 56 modern parking lots in the city.

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The civic body has started acquiring plots from the City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) apart from resorting to street parking facilities.

Municipal commissioner Rajesh Narvekar said, “Parking is a major issue faced by any developing city. Considering the scenario in Navi Mumbai, we need to act before the situation gets out of hand. Our objective is to have smart modern systems in place to resolve the parking issue for the next 15 years. The innovative measures will make use of technology to enable motorists to book parking space online and also ensure enough availability as per demand.”

Several nodes of the city face acute shortage of parking space both on the main roads and internal roads. The older housing colonies, especially those constructed by the CIDCO have little space for parking forcing residents to park their vehicles on the roads. There are also instances of citizens owning more than one vehicle parking the extra vehicles on the roads as they only have a facility for just one vehicle in their premises.

Meanwhile, the number of vehicles is rising by over 40,000 every year in the city, which now has a population of around 18 lakh. To tackle the issue, the NMMC has planned the parking lots in areas having heavy vehicle density.

The maximum concentration of the proposed parking lots will be in Vashi node followed by Nerul and Belapur.

“We have sought 111 plots from the CIDCO for the planned the parkings, of which we have already got some plots. Apart from that several main roads and internal roads have been identified for parking areas, for which we have got permission and work has started,” NMMC deputy commissioner Dadasaheb Chabukswar said and added that the civic body was working on smart multi-level parking projects to ensure optimum use of the limited available space.”

Confirming the plan, NMMC city engineer Sanjay Desai said, “Major parking plots are being developed at plot 34 in sector 30 of Vashi, close to the railway station, opposite to Tunga hotel and next to it. There will be a multi-level parking facility in sector 15 of CBD Belapur with a capacity of 400 vehicles to be developed on BOT basis. There are a couple of other major parking facilities also in the immediate pipeline.”

“Besides these, street parking plans have also been formulated. Where there are three lanes, we will earmark one lane for parking,” he said, adding that “In the next 3-4 years, we want to ensure enough parking facilities in the city to cater for the growing demand in the next several years.”