The Thiruvananthapuram Municipal Corporation is planning to build at least three more multi-level car parking facilities as part of its smart city projects, in an effort to address parking problems within the city. According to Smart City Thiruvananthapuram Limited officials, the two parking lots near Chhala Bazaar and the proposed location for a statue. These are in addition to the two MLCPs that are already in various stages of planning at Medical College and Putharikandam Maithnam.
According to officials, in the next phase of development of the parking lot, the emphasis will be on Chhala Bazaar. Currently, pedestrians find it difficult to navigate through the road that passes through the center of the market as vehicles are parked haphazardly on either side, leaving only a narrow space for vehicles and people to pass . As part of the proposed plan, multi-level parking roads are to be constructed close to the entry points on either side of the market to ease congestion inside the market.
“Parking space should be provided on the Attakulangara side as well as on the East Fort side so that there are hardly any vehicles parked inside the market. We have identified a place near the office of Warehousing Corporation. Besides another Puthrikandam Maithanam, the powerhouse is near the area. All these together can meet the parking needs of the area to an extent, said an official.
Due to the short duration of the Smart City Mission, the officials are working towards starting the tender process at the earliest. Piling work has started for multilevel parking at Palayam behind Saphalalam Complex. In April this year, a multi-level parking facility was opened under the Smart City project at Thampanoor over an area of 826 square meters opposite the Central Railway Station on New Theater Road. The first such parking lot was opened a few years ago inside the corporation head office complex at Palayam.
Despite the opening of these facilities, there has not been a drastic reduction in street side parking, pointing to the acute shortage of parking space within the city.