Hyderabad: The proposed Multi-Level Parking (MLP) projects have been gathering dust for a year now.
The Hyderabad Metro Rail Limited, which is the nodal agency to construct the MLP project, managed to lay the foundation of precisely one, at Nampally, in September last year.
The state government last year asked government organisations including the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation, Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority, Telangana State Industrial Infrastructure Corporation, and TSRTC to develop MLPs and identify land in suitable locations to construct 40 MLPs — 20 during Phase-I and 20 during Phase-II.
Despite nodal agencies handing over the land to the executing agency HMRL, the project has not progressed since a year. HMRL officials say it will take another year to start the construction and commuters will just have to put up with parking problems.
When the MLP at Nampally was being inaugurated, HMRL authorities had said that the land for the others has been identified and requests for proposal are being prepared to invite bids.
HMRL officials also said in September last year that there had been a lukewarm response to such structures in New Delhi and other places because they were not user-friendly, and they were also not fully-automated systems as was being claimed by the agencies.
Above all, these structures have to be commercially viable. They cannot be only used for parking. Agencies should be able to recover their investment. Now, eight months later, the latest excuse for the delay by HMRL is that permissions from the Fire Department and Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation are awaited.
Managing director, HMRL, NVS Reddy, said that the project was delayed due to permissions from the civic body and director-general of Fire Services being held up. He said that the GHMC has given clearance pertaining to the structure last time and clearance from the fire safety department will likely be given in two-weeks’ time and the construction will begin immediately.
He said that the MLP at Nampally will be completed in nine months after receiving the clearance from departments concerned and based on the outcome of the project, the HMRL will take it up in the remaining locations in two phases.
