CWG parking lot will now be a shelter for cluster buses

Thursday, March 31, 2011

Transport dept acts after Shunglu Committee report questions future use of Games projects

Finally moving forward on the Sunehri and Kushak Nallah parking lot, the government has decided that the Transport department will use it for cluster bus parking and will also pay the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) an annual rental. In a high-level meeting held on Tuesday, it was decided that the lot will be handed over to the Transport department for parking cluster buses.

The decision comes days after the Shunglu Committee report questioned the legacy value of several Commonwealth Games projects. The Shunglu Committee had noted that "legacy use was unclear during the project execution and even after project completion".

The government has now gone on an overdrive to tie up the loose ends before it publishes its final report.

The decision to construct the parking lot over the Sunehri and Kushak Nallahs was conceptualised in June 2008. The project was executed at the cost of Rs 321 crore. The lot has been ready since August 31, 2010, though the completion was delayed by three months.

Spread over 21,875 sq m by covering the Sunehri Nallah (behind Lodhi Hotel upto Dayal Singh College along Lodhi Road) and the Kushak Nallah (from Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium south gate to the Bhisham Pitamah flyover), the parking lot has been constructed in the form of an elevated road and can accommodate 820 buses. Prime facilities including modern toilet complexes, restrooms, paved footpaths, a well-planned drainage system and underground utility ducts.

The Transport department will have to pay the MCD Rs 7 crore annually for its usage and, in turn, will provide free parking to cluster bus owners. The Transport department claimed they did not want to take over the parking lot till the cluster buses arrived.

"Buses of at least five clusters can be accommodated here. What the Shunglu Committee does not realise is that had we rented out the parking lot in October itself, we would have ended up paying huge amounts to the MCD without the lot being put to use," said a senior Transport official.

The first batch of 50 buses from the first cluster, being run by Star Bus, was to arrive by January. By April, 232 buses were to be up and running. The project has, however, run into delays; not a single bus has been launched till now.

Original news source http://www.indianexpress.com/news/cwg-parking-lot-will-now-be-a-shelter-for-cluster-buses/769506/0