New Delhi: As the Central Vista redevelopment project progresses rapidly, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) is looking for ways to increase the area’s parking capacity to accommodate the expected rise in demand once the project is completed, ThePrint has learnt.
Though all the 10 Common Central Secretariat buildings — part of the redevelopment project that will house 51 Union ministries — will have dedicated parking space, senior ministry officials said it might not be sufficient.
“Parking in the areas is going to be a huge challenge as the footfall will only increase over the year. We are looking at a comprehensive parking plan for the entire Central Vista area where new construction will come up,” a senior ministry official in the know told ThePrint.
Elaborating on the need for more parking spaces, another senior MoHUA official pointed at the parking chaos at Kartavya Path, especially during weekends.
After the redeveloped stretch was thrown open to the public, the area sees close to 70,000-80,000 visitors daily and the number increases to 1.5 lakh during weekends, according to the Central Public Works Department (CPWD) officials. The CPWD is the nodal agency for the construction of the Central Vista redevelopment project.
“The current parking space of around 1,200 vehicles, including buses, is not sufficient. We did not anticipate such a rush throughout the year. Once the office is complete and the museums will come up at the South and North Blocks, the demand for parking will only increase with time. We are exploring various options for creating additional parking spaces,” said the ministry official.
Currently, three out of 10 Common Central Secretariat buildings are under construction. The three buildings will have basement parking at two levels, which can accommodate close to 2,000 vehicles, a senior CPWD official said.
“Constructing basement parking is a time-consuming process. It is faster to construct a building if there is no basement parking. Though all the buildings will have dedicated parking space, several options are being looked at to assess and plan the parking space in the entire area,” another ministry official told ThePrint.
Due to strict construction regulations in the Central Vista area and paucity of land, construction of multilevel parking, officials said, was not feasible.
“There are some vacant land parcels in the area, which can be used for parking. There is a possibility of underground parking to be constructed at the National Stadium. But the discussion is in the nascent stage,” said a CPWD official aware of the development.
Meanwhile, the CPWD is planning to get a comprehensive mobility study done. Earlier this month, it invited bids for the preparation of an Integrated Mobility Development Plan for the Central Vista Area.
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Traffic circulation plan
The new government buildings, once completed, will house employees of 51 Union ministries. With so many employees entering and leaving the building almost simultaneously, officials said, “it is bound to result in traffic congestion”.
In addition to the movement of government employees, there will be additional footfall of visitors at Kartavya Path and the Yuge Yugeen Bharat National Museum, which will come up at the North and South Blocks.
The new Parliament building has also been made operational. The Red Cross Road, which is a thoroughfare, was closed for the construction of the building. Now with the building ready, the CPWD is carrying out repairs to the road, but senior officials said that whether vehicular traffic would be allowed on it again or not was yet to be decided.
“We are just restoring the road,” said a CPWD official.
With new infrastructure being developed in the heart of the city, ministry officials said efforts were being made to ensure that there was no traffic congestion in the area.
For this, the CPWD is going to get a traffic circulation study done and the department is in the process of appointing a consultant to carry out the study.
According to the tender document, which ThePrint has seen, the scope of the study would include data collection and review, assessment and demand analysis, recommendation on traffic, parking and transportation management and preparation of a techno-economic feasibility study of a suitable public transport system.
“CPWD intends to conduct a comprehensive traffic study of this area to understand the amount of traffic generated by all the proposed development and its impact on the surrounding network in terms of increase in traffic on the surrounding roads, traffic congestion, on the parking supply, impact on metro ridership etc.,” read the tender document.
The study, officials said, would be carried out in surrounding areas as well.
“We will also look at the influence areas (areas whose traffic will be impacted due to construction work) up to 4-5 km from the project site. The study will be completed within 4-5 months. We are in the process of hiring a consultant for it.”
(Edited by Richa Mishra)