Corpn begins on-street parking on 35 roads

CHENNAI: After putting it on hold for months due to the pandemic situation and lockdown, the Greater Chennai Corporation has started collecting parking charges from motorists who park their vehicles on 35 major roads in the city. Nine more roads would be taken up in the next phase, including Anna Salai and NSC Bose Road, said officials, adding that it would also launch valet parking facility.

According to data from the city Corporation, these 35 roads have 9,200 car parking spaces under the on-street parking management system. The civic body has been testing the new system at some roads, including Thiyagaraya Road (Pedestrian Plaza) in T Nagar,

but the launch across the city was kept on hold following the COVID-19 outbreak. On Thursday, Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami formally launched the project.

The 35 roads include Sardar Patel Road, Besant Nagar 6th Avenue (Beach Road), Anna Nagar 2nd Avenue, Wallajah Road and Marina Service Road. However, on-street parking system on Marina Service Road has been kept on hold despite the works being completed.

“Around 6,000 parking spaces have eight-hour occupancy every day. On an average, we are collecting Rs 1 lakh every day. The collection will increase, as we are going to deploy additional manpower and launch valet parking facility,” a representative of the service provider said.

In the phase-2 of the project, onstreet parking system would be implemented on nine roads, including NSC Bose Road, Peters Road and Anna Salai. Of these nine roads, however, the civic body is yet to approve Anna Salai and other two roads.

In total, the city will have 12,000 parking slots along the busy roads with 1,200 cameras to monitor them. The Corporation has already launched a smartphone application to identify vacant parking spaces and pay user charges.