Green signal for car parking complex.

The State Cabinet on Wednesday approved the proposal envisaging the establishment of a Rs..44-crore multi-level parking and commercial complex at Kacheripadi in Kochi.

The facility will accommodate as many as 300 cars at a time. Once the project becomes operational, you can drive your car straight into the facility, leave the vehicle there and can get into the Kochi metro which passes through the region.

Though it would serve as a feeder service support facility for the Kochi metro that would encourage people to use the public transport facility, it would benefit other car owners too. Currently, there are no car parking facilities in the region, which could be considered as the hub of a whole lot of commercial establishments as well as public institutions.

The authorities have not specified any model for the project, which is one of the proposals showcased under the Partner Kerala initiative of the State government. The successful bidder would be free to design and adopt any technology of his choice for the project.

The toll collection, parking and retrieval of the vehicles will have to be in the most advanced and convenient forms. It would not be a mere car parking facility that has been proposed at the site.

Besides, the automated multi-level car parking, there would be other commercial zones in the project that would be spread over one lakh sq ft. Shops, kiosks and such facilities too would come up at the centre.

The project, proposed at the holding owned by the Kochi Corporation at Kacheripadi, would be in 'design build, finance, operate and transfer basis for the specified concession period on a revenue share cum annual concession fee model.'

THE HINDU