An automated multi-tier car parking facility in Gariahat is struggling to find people keen on parking their cars there and an agency to run it.
The reason, according to officials of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC), is higher parking rates at the facility.
While the roadside parking rate is Rs 10 an hour for four-wheelers and Rs 5 an hour for two-wheelers, in the automated facility the rate is Rs 35 an hour for cars and Rs 11 an hour for two-wheelers.
As a result, KMC officials said, around half the slots at the parking facility always remain vacant, while roads in the vicinity have cars parked in two lines. The multi-tier facility has 30 slots.
The KMC lets out all parking bays in the city owned by it to agencies to run them. The agencies collect parking fees from car owners and drivers and have to pay a fixed amount to the civic body.
The KMC has been running the automated parking facility in Gariahat since it was inaugurated in March 2020, just days before the Covid-19 pandemic forced a lockdown across the country.
Now, the civic body is finding it difficult to get an agency to run the facility.
The KMC has floated tenders thrice inviting bids from agencies interested to run the facility. No one had responded to the first tender, while only one agency showed interest after the second tender was floated.
Rules prohibit awarding a contract if there is a single bidder.
The civic body has once again published an advertisement seeking bids to run the facility.
“We are not able to understand why no one is interested in running the automated facility in Gariahat. We have floated a third tender. Any interested agency with required resources to run a parking facility can submit a bid. They need not be agencies who are running parking bays in other parts of Kolkata,” said an official of the civic body.
“The automated facility at Gariahat is hardly full. There are multiple vacancies in the facility, while owners park cars in double lines on roads in the area. It seems the difference in parking rates is the reason why car owners prefer parking on the road, where the rates are much lower,” said the KMC official.
Other than the Gariahat facility, the city has two automated multi-tier car parking facilities. One of them, an underground facility in Simpark Mall at New Market, is not owned by the KMC.
The third facility, at Rawdon Street, is owned by the KMC.
The Rawdon Street parking lot has 105 slots, a KMC official said.
The rates at the Gariahat and Rawdon Street facilities are the same, the official said. But the Rawdon Street facility hardly remains empty.
The KMC official said there were companies in and around Rawdon Street that park many of their cars in the facility.
In contrast, most of the cars parked at the Gariahat facility are owned by individuals.
There are no plans to reduce the rates in the automated facility, said KMC officials. The installation and running costs of such a parking lot are much higher than that of a parking bay along a road.