Visakhapatnam: A multi-level car parking facility (MLCP), which has been in the news for the last two years, is soon going to be a reality. The tenders have been finalised for what will be the first MLCP of Vizag city.The project, mooted under the Vizag Smart City initiative, will come up on a 367.8 square metres land pocket next to Jagadabama junction of the city.Quoted by the successful bidder for Rs 9.7 crore, the MLCP will provide parking facility for 100 car spaces through a five-level structure of puzzle parking system. The project is expected to give respite to the parking problems of the city to some extent, particularly in and around the bustling Jagadamba junction area.A GVMC official informed that they will enter into an agreement with the private agency within a week.“Once the agreement is reached, the private agency has to finish the project in six months. The users will be provided with an app for real-time tracking of vacant parking slots in the facility. If required, the MLCP can also be integrated with the city’s Command & Control Centre (CCC) in future,” said the official.The city has grown by leaps and bounds in the last one decade, but the parking facilities and space have more or less remained the same. There are about 6 lakh non-transport vehicles in the city, including 1.5 lakh cars. The motorists always find it difficult to park their vehicles in the busy junctions of the city.Even many major shopping complexes of the city don’t have enough parking spaces, and the less said about small business centres the better. Due to the space crunch, cars and bikes are parked in a haphazard manner, and often occupy one quarter of the two-lane roads, creating traffic snarls. Motorists entering into arguments with the traffic police with regard to on-road parking is a common scene in several parts of the city.On the other hand, the Visakhapatnam Urban Development Authority (Vuda) has proposed an underground parking facility to accommodate nearly 800 cars on the RK beach road.The underground parking facility is part of the proposed 60-crore Integrated Museum Project. The Greater Visakhapatnam Smart City Corporation Limited is expected to provide funding for this parking facility as part of a converge project under the Smart City initiative. Recently, chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu gave his nod for the project after witnessing the power point presentation given by Vuda vice-chairman P Basanth Kumar.

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