New parking policy soon

In its effort to decongest the city and prohibit parking on footpath and encroachments especially by street vendors, the Corporation will formulate a parking policy by November.

The civic body had already entrusted an agency Civitas Urban Solutions with the preparation of a detailed study report focusing on the parking patterns suitable for the city.

“The urban parking policy is to be formed on  the basis of the demographic specialties of the city. The study report will focus on the demographic specialties, vehicular and passenger mobility pattern of the city,” said an official with Corporation.

The state government had also approved the Automobile Parking Policy for all the towns and cities as envisaged in the reforms under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM).

According to the instructions given by the state government, the Corporation will solely be responsible for planning the policy and implementing the proposals while coordinating with other stakeholders, including the PWD, the Kerala Roads and Bridges Development Corporation (RBDCK) and the National Highways Authority of India.

Though various agencies are responsible for the construction and maintenance of different categories of urban roads, it is necessary to entrust the responsibility of vehicle parking policies with a single agency, the Corporation.

“Civitas Urban Solutions will be provided with details of major roads, shops and other key components in the city. The factors including the number of shops on each side of the roads, the busy junctions, the spots needed to construct parking lots and other details will be finalised on the basis of the study report submitted by the agency,” the official said. The total cost for implementing the policy will be Rs 20 lakh. This amount excludes the cost of constructing modern parking lots, if the report suggests any.

He said that the construction of parking lots based on the report will be included in the second phase.

“It is not easy for us to develop on-street  and off-street parking facilities owing to various reasons including the financial constraints. According to the guidelines given  by the government, the civic body can resort to public-private partnership (PPP) models to develop and operate parking arrangements,” the official said.