In a bid to ease the traffic woes of the city, Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal inaugurated a multi-level automated car parking facility near Sraddhanjali Kanan on RG Baruah Road in Guwahati on Tuesday. This parking facility is the first-of-its-kind in North East.
The project, undertaken by Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA), has been completed at a cost of Rs. 14.33 crores. The parking facility has the capacity to accommodate 302 four-wheelers and 27 two-wheelers. It consists of six levels of overground puzzle parking with moveable pallets which will be manned by trained staff, said officials.
This parking facility has been built by Mumbai-based Ram Ratna Infrastructure Private Limited (RRIPL) and took around three years to complete. The hourly cost of parking here is Rs 5 for two-wheelers with additional Rs. 5 for every hour whereas four-wheelers will have to pay Rs 15 per hour with additional Rs 10 for every hour.
“This parking facility will greatly help in reducing traffic congestion on the stretch of road in front of the Sraddhanjali Kanan Park and near the state zoo. Visitors currently park their vehicles on either side of the road which causes major traffic problems for commuters and pedestrians,” said project engineer at GMDA, Pulak Kalita. He added that the multi-level parking will reduce this tendency of roadside parking by the residents.
Parking has been a major cause of concern for the residents in Guwahati with more than 9 lakh vehicles including two, three and four-wheelers operating on the city roads. Apart from this, vehicles from neighbouring states also enter the city every day. This results in traffic snarls.
The GMDA is also planning to make the entire stretch of road in front of the Sraddhanjali Kanan Park a no-parking zone in order to ensure free flow of vehicular movement.
Bijoy Talukdar, service in-charge of RRIPL, said that the pallet system, which can move horizontally and vertically, will make it convenient for a large number of cars to be parked simultaneously. He added that sensors are also fitted in the facility which can detect any obstruction in the parking area.
“A grace period of ten minutes will be provided to the vehicles where they will not be charged the parking fee if they decide to leave the parking facility within ten minutes of parking,” said Talukdar.
He said that the ground level can park 7 cars at a time and these pellets can move horizontally. While the first, second, third, fourth levels can accommodate 36 cars and they move both horizontally as well as vertically. Finally, the top level has a capacity to park 8 cars and can move vertically.
This multi-storey car parking also boasts of some additional facilities such as rest room for drivers and care takers with toilet facilities and automated ticket-vending machines.
Chief Engineer at GMDA, Debajit Das, said that he hopes this parking facility will provide maximum benefit to the residents of the city.
Total project cost: Rs. 14.33 crores
Capacity: 302 four-wheelers, 27 two-wheelers
Total levels of parking: 6 levels of overground puzzle parking
Hourly parking fee:
Two- wheelers Rs 5 with additional Rs. 5 for every hour
Four-wheelers Rs 15 per hour with additional Rs 10 for every hour
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Ground level can park 7 cars at a time on movable pallets
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First, second, third, fourth levels can accommodate 36 cars each
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Top level has a capacity to park 8 cars
