Land for parking to be a big hurdle for Metro Rail
■ HMRL yet to indentify suitable land even after a year of its launch
The Hyderabad Metro Rail Limited is ignoring the parking problems of commuters, even though the third leg of the Metro, from Ameerpet to Hitec City has been completed.
Out of the 45 multi-level parking complexes promised, only one ground-level complex has been completed so far at Nampally.
Nodal agencies such as GHMC, HMDA, and the TSIIC, are yet to identify the locations to construct the parking complexes, but they have made little progress in this direction, leaving commuters to deal as best they can with the human and vehicular bottlenecks.
HMRL authorities say they are yet to identify suitable locations to construct the parking complexes, and that tenders will be invited afterwards.
The parking issue has become worse with the commencement of the AmeerpetHitec City stretch as there is heavy traffic movement at any given time.
The parking complexes will
serve all public transport systems including the MMTS, city RTC, private vehicles and cabs.
Highly-placed sources said that lands identified initially by the nodal agencies at some locations were not suitable for parking complexes, which will also have adjoining commercial complexes and walkways to take commuters to the nearest public transport system for the onward commute.
The stretch between Ameerpet and LB Nagar has 16 Metro stations and most of them lack suitable parking. With the ongoing construction activities, parking at Ameerpet, Madhuranagar, Yousufguda, Jubilee Hills Road No. 5, Jubilee Hills Checkpost, Peddamma Temple, Madhapur, Durgam Cheruvu, and Hitec City is expected to go from bad to worse.
A senior HMRL official admitted that the parking issue will take a fair amount of time to resolve as identifying suitable land for the parking complexes is a herculean task. He said nothing will be done before the Lok Sabha elections. The work of finalising the design and inviting tenders will take at least three months after that.
“Once the construction work begins, world-class parking complexes will be up and running in 24 months,” the official boasted.
The parking projects will be on public-private partnership (PPP) mode. The official said that the multi-level parking will have a concession period of 50 years. “Bidders will be allowed to construct commercial space in the floor area equivalent to the parking space created in accordance with the parking policy and building rules.”