Today on the occasion of Uttar Pradesh Divas, the city’s first multi-level parking was inaugurated by Mahesh Sharma, union minister of state for tourism and culture. However, the lifts have not been installed and toilets are still under construction.
Situated in Sector 18, this facility with two basements and a total of eight floors will aid traffic decongestion in and around the market area. Incidentally Sector 18 is the city’s biggest commercial hub.
When our City Spidey reporter took a round of the facility, he found that the washrooms/toilets were still under construction. In some washrooms, taps were missing and in others the basic sanitary equipment too had not been fitted. He also discovered that the lifts have not been installed.
The eight-level parking facility is expected to accommodate over 3,000 cars. Construction work on the facility had started in July 22, 2013 and the deadline for completion was July 2015. This deadline could not be adhered to as the contractor had stopped work midway.
In May 2015, the Noida Authority had partially opened paid parking on two levels while the building was still under construction. However, KR Chitra, a resident of Noida had moved the Allahabad High Court in September 2015 against this decision. Chitra obtained a stay order on the ground that it is unsafe to use a building for parking while construction is still in progress.
On February 4, 2017, the High Court had directed the Noida Authority to complete the project fast and not allow parking until the work is finished. Thereafter, the authority had set a deadline for October 2, 2017. However, it could not honour this deadline as well. Finally after missing seven deadlines, the authority has opened this facility today but with incomplete infrastructure.
RK Mishra, project engineer of Noida Authority told City Spidey that the multi-level parking facility will commence operations only on the first floor and two basements. “The other floors shall be opened only after the elevators are installed. We are aiming to open the entire facility within a month,” Mishra stated.
Incidentally, Alok Tandon, chief executive officer of Noida Authority had urged the officials to complete all the work before January 15.
