The Hindu : Regulatory authority mooted

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Mar 31, 2002

Southern States

Southern States - Tamil Nadu-Chennai

Regulatory authority mooted

By Our Staff Reporter

CHENNAI March 30. A parking authority should be constituted and a fund created to regulate and enforce parking systems in the city, suggested urban traffic experts, academics and government authorities.

Participating in a seminar on parking management today, they suggested a separate body should be commissioned by the Government to outlay long and short-term parking systems. The seminar dealt with the urgency to evolve parking policies, standards, strategies and regulations, enforcement systems, on-street, off-street and multi-level parking areas, and pricing mechanisms.

With more than 13 lakh vehicles running in the city, awareness of and campaigning for parking management was as important as cancer and health awareness campaigns, said T. Anantha Rajan, visiting professor, Division of Urban Systems Development (DUSD), Anna University, which organised the seminar.

The Government should look towards parking management systems in Sydney and Singapore for inspiration, he said. In Singapore, a resident would not be allowed to buy a vehicle without indicating a parking site for it or contributing towards a fund for off-street parking. ``We have to study the possibility of a parking fund for Chennai,'' he said.

The Highways Department secretary, T. S. Sridhar, emphasised the importance of private sector participation in parking management. ``Schools, car manufacturers and insurance companies should contribute towards regulating parking,'' he said.

He said parking areas should not be located in heavy-traffic arterial roads, and suggested regulation of peak hour and non-peak hour parking areas.

The speakers raised the issue of non-availability of visitors' parking in residential complexes, non-compliance with parking provisions in building rules, the necessity for a crackdown on unauthorised parking, especially by heavy vehicles, and full-fledged park-and-ride facilities in bus and railway stations.

A private company specialising in multi-level parking facilities demonstrated the use of the system, especially in a city like Chennai that was starved for land.

Among those who participated in the discussions were academics, Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority, Housing and Urban Development Corporation, transport corporation and other government officials, builders and private operators involved with parking systems.

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