Automated towers for car parking

BANGALORE: Tired of looking for safe place to park your car every time you go out? The Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has drawn a plan to introduce 13 Automated Verticular Car Parking Towers across the city. The proposal is expected to become a  reality in another six months.BBMP has identified 13 locations- Russel Market, Race Course Road, Freedom Park, Upparpet Police Station, Majestic (Near Sukh Sagar), MTR, Domlur, BBMP head office premises, Hosmat Hospital, Magrath Road, Hockey Stadium, Gandhi Bazar. Bangalore Traffic Police are committed to enforce ‘no parking’ zones around the tower locations, once the parking lot is started.According to BBMP Standing Committee (Town Planning) chairman C K Ramamurthy,  Hyderabad-based Bhrigu Realty and Telco Automotive Limited (TAL) has been entrusted with the construction work. The automated towers will be built under public-private-partnership (PPP). The parking tower will be 10-storey building and around 400 cars can be parked. He said that they have proposed a parking policy for Bangalore, which will be placed before the monthly Council meeting.“After the Council approves, the project report will be sent to the Directorate of Urban Land Transport (DULT) for further approval.” Ramamurthy further explained that construction of towers would not take much time as it is made out of steel and it only has to be arranged.REVENUEThe company expects to earn revenue from parking fees as well as advertising on the exterior walls of the towers. According to official sources, advertisement hoarding will cover the building from outside, making it look like a regular building. “We are expecting to earn at least Rs 60 crore through advertisements,” Ramamurthy said.The processAutomated Verticular system involves a vehicle being lifted up to a parking level using an elevator shaft, and retrieved down similarly. Vehicles will be stacked on top of each other and users will get a parking token through automated system, facilitating a transparent mode of operation.