Lack of interest puts brakes on BBMP parking lot

No takers for the maintenance contract of Gandhinagar parking facility

Y. Maheswara Reddy | NT

Bengaluru: After spending Rs 78 crores to construct a multi-level parking facility near Freedom Park, the BBMP is in a fix, with no takers coming forward to maintain the facility. The massive parking area, in the heart of the city, can accommodate 500 fourwheelers and 455 two-wheelers.

The BBMP authorities have made attempts to find an agency or a contractor for the maintenance of the facility, but in vain. “We have floated a tender twice in the last few months, inviting bidders to take over the maintenance. Nobody showed an interest. We have floated the tender once more,” said a BBMP executive engineer.

Rumour has it that the lack of interest comes from the fact that motorists, who will have to walk a few hundred metres to reach KG Road, Avenue Road, Chickpet or other business areas in the vicinity, might not want to park at Freedom Park.

“I prefer to park my vehicle at Maharaja Complex Parking rather than at the Freedom Park Parking facility. I have to walk one km to reach my shop and go back one km to take my vehicle, that too after paying the parking fee,’’ said Krishna Kumar A, a businessman on BVK Iyengar Road.

When this correspondent visited the parking facility at Freedom Park, a few workers were busy carrying construction material. “Most of the work is complete now. The only pending work is fixing solar panels on the rooftop of the parking facility,’’ said a manager of the construction agency.

The parking facility is expected to be powered by solar energy, which will meet lighting and other electrical needs. “Fixing of solar panels is expected to be completed in a few days,’’ said the BBMP executive engineer. The parking facility was supposed to be open to the public in 2017 but has skipped many deadlines on a number of pretexts. The last deadline was June 2021 but it too got extended to December. “We are ready to open the parking facility to the public but have not been able to find an agency or a contractor to maintain it,’’ said the BBMP engineer.

On December 14, the BBMP executive engineer of Project Central- 4 Division has invited tenders from eligible tenderers, for the work of “Collection of Parking Fee and Regular Maintenance Services for the multi-level car parking building at the Freedom Park premises.” The last date for receipt of queries is December 21 and a pre-bid meeting is scheduled to be held at 3 pm on December 23. Last date for submission of proposals is December 29 and December 31 is the date of opening of technical proposals.