DLF likely to start operations of Noida’s Sector 18 parking lot on Feb 1

The city’s first multilevel parking lot can accommodate 2,800 cars and 250 motorbikes. It was planned in the busiest commercial hub of Noida — Sector 18 — to address parking space issue in the market.

After missing several deadlines, the Sector 18 multilevel car park facility may finally open on February 1. The Noida authority on Wednesday said DLF is likely to start operating the facility.

visitors will have to pay ₹30 for the first two hours for parking a four-wheeler and ₹10 for every subsequent hour. (Sunil Ghosh/HT)

The city’s first multilevel parking lot can accommodate 2,800 cars and 250 motorbikes. It was planned in the busiest commercial hub of Noida — Sector 18 — to address parking space issue in the market.

The authority had issued the tender to hire an operator for running this facility in August 2017. No agency except the DLF that has a mall — Mall of India — next to the parking facility applied to manage the much-awaited facility.

“This is the fifth time that only DLF applied to manage the parking facility. It means that as per rules, we are bound to hire DLF for managing the parking lot. We are completing the paper formalities for the same. DLF will start managing operations from February 1,” SC Mishra, senior project engineer of the Noida authority, said.

According to charges fixed by Noida authority, visitors will have to pay ₹30 for the first two hours for parking a four-wheeler and ₹10 for every subsequent hour. Those parking a two-wheeler will be charged ₹5
per hour.

“However, the charges for parking vehicles on the surface will be higher. Those parking cars will be charged ₹20 per hour and those parking motorbikes will be charged ₹10 per hour. We have set higher rates for parking outside the facility, to discourage parking on surface roads in Sector 18 as it leads to congestion,” Mishra said.

Earlier, the authority used to charge ₹20 for parking four-wheelers and ₹10 for two-wheelers for 14 hours (9am to 11pm) along the roads in the market.

The authority has space to accommodate 1,000 vehicles along surface roads of Sector 18.

“As per an estimate, there is a requirement for parking 4,000 vehicles in Sector 18 at any given time, as this is a major commercial hub. We hope that congestion and parking woes in Sector 18 will be addressed to a large extent once the facility is opened,” Mishra said.

DLF will have to pay a minimum of ₹75 lakh per month to the authority for this arrangement. “If the earning is more than ₹75 lakh, the amount will be shared in a 2:3 ratio between the Noida authority and the DLF,” Mishra said.

Work on the Sector 18 parking facility started on July 22, 2013, with a July 2015 deadline but it got delayed due to a funds crunch and litigation.

The parking facility was supposed to be opened in October 2017 but it could not be done as the contractor had delayed construction work on the project. Officials said the work was delayed as the contractor was facing a funds crunch.

Previously, Amit Mohan Prasad, then Noida authority chief executive officer, had fixed October 2 as the opening date but it was later rescheduled to October 30.

In May 2015, the Noida authority had partially opened two floors of the facility while it was under construction. However, KR Chitra, a resident, moved the Allahabad high court in September 2015 and obtained a stay on the grounds that it was unsafe to use the building for parking while it was still being built.

Disposing of the matter on February 4, the high court directed the Noida authority to complete the project at the earliest and not to allow parking until the work is over.