MCD plans to earn from 9 vacant sites

While thousands of students studying in MCD schools might still not have a concrete roof above their head, but the civic body claims it has many vacant school premises that can be put to commercial use.

While thousands of students studying in Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) schools might still not have a concrete roof above their head, but the civic body claims it has many vacant school premises that can be put to commercial use.

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The civic body has come up with a proposal wherein they have identified nine such sites that have been lying vacant for the last two years or so as many schools got merged together. The civic body is hoping to earn a whopping Rs 500 crore from this project.

The civic body has decided to convert many of these schools into multi level parking or guesthouses depending on the location and suitability of the site.

“We had carried out inspection of these sites and came to the conclusion that many of these sites can be turned into a multi level parking. For instance in Ajmal Khan Road there is scarcity of parking space ,” said a MCD official.

Recently, out of the 500 parking sites suggested by the MCD, the Delhi Traffic Police had rejected nearly 250 parking lots shrinking the parking space in the city further.

The sites that have been selected fall in areas such as Karol Bagh, Old Rajinder Nagar, RK Puram, Karmpura among others.

“We are hoping to begin work on this project by the end of the year so that it can be completed before the Common Wealth Games 2010. Since the sites are in residential areas we will be taking the opinion of RWA’s too,” added the official. The MCD wants to carry it out on a Built Operate Transfer (BOT) basis.

Recently the civic agency had carried out sealing action on guesthouses operating without license in the city, a move that had affected the business of the guesthouses grossly. Hence, the civic body has also decided to convert many of these schools such as those in RK Puram area into guesthouses.

Meanwhile the biggest hurdle for the project apart from getting the MCD commissioner’s nod is the required land from the Land and Development Office.