Parking woes for Hyderabad Metro Rail

Realising that parking space for commuters would be the most crucial component in the success of Hyderabad Metro Rail; the authorities are scouting for space

• L&TMRHL to develop and maintain underground 20 parking lots; the remaining parking lots (number yet to be decided) would be maintained by HMR.
• Out of the 25 odd places identified only five stations have adjacent government land.
• HMR mulling of going vertical by having multiple floors for parking at parking lots.

Last mile connectivity will determine the success of Hyderabad Metro Rail and this is one of the top agendas for its makers. “You may have the best malls and the state-of-the-art technology but if passengers have no parking space,” people will think twice said an L&TMRHL official.

Telangana Chief Secretary Rajiv Sharma emphasised on identifying land pockets for parking lots in the weekly review meeting last week. As per the agreement, L&TMRHL which is implementing the project would be developing 20 underground parking lots but there is a deficit of parking lots at various stations. The parking lots are being developed on the 269 acres that includes the three depots of L&TMRHL.

While some stations can have parking space where government land is available, there are many stations on the three corridors where space is a constraint. N V S Reddy, MD, HMR, says, “1,000 sq yards would be the minimum space required to develop parking lots. It all depends on the availability of space.”

“As per the survey conducted by the traffic police department, there are 40 stations that do not have space for parking.However, at some stations there is enough land which could be used, said Additional Traffic Commissioner Jitender. “There is a need for ingenuity on part of the engineers to come out with solutions.

One could be going vertical by having multiple floors of parking.’ The challenge that HMR authorities are facing is that they may not have uniform parking lots for the lack of space. Out of the 25 places identified only in five places land is available. The three interchange stations at Ameerpet, Parade Grounds and Imliban would require more parking spaces.

At Gandhi Bhavan there is close to two acres of land that could be used and at Ameerpet and S R Nagar government lands are available. A senior official of HMR said that at the Ameerpet Rythu Bazaar there is land available that could be put into use. Out of the 64 stations, 54 are typical stations which include six terminal stations and 11 stations with entry exit retail. The three interchange stations would have additional retail space and four special stations would have extra mezzanine floor for retail.

While there would be parking space at 20 stations which would be developed and maintained by L&TMRHL, the remaining would be maintained by HMR. Suman, a researcher at the University of Hyderabad, says, “L&T is developing 12.5 million square feet at terminal locations and six million feet adjoining the stations. It will take care of parking at its malls but what about other stations?”

By:T P Venu