The deadlock in the longstanding KG Marg automated multi-level parking is expected to make headway with the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) asking the private concessionaire, DS Construction limited, to return the land proposed for the project. While the civic body is not ruling out the possibility of going for surface parking in the area, yet it is hopeful that a multi-level parking may be carved out within the permitted height limit. The council is just a step away from cancelling its tender with the firm and going for fresh tenders.
“We have sent a notice to the concessionaire to give us the land back. In a few days their tender will be cancelled and we will go for fresh tenders,” said an official. By drawing fresh tenders the civic body aims to give the entire project a fresh start. “The entire design will be planned again. Whosoever gets the tender after meeting our conditions will have to give us the new blueprint of the parking. The new plan will have to be made in accordance with all the conditions laid down by the National Monument Authority (NMA),” the official added.
Sources in the civic body have hinted that the agency is soon going to level the land in the site which the firm had once dug up for the project. This might mean that a surface parking may soon come up in the area which is surrounded by multi-storeyed office complexes. “Surface parking is one option. But a multi-level parking is possible even within a height of 20 metres that the NMA has allowed us. A final decision will be taken only once the re-tendering is done,” said an official. Work on the parking was started by DSC limited in 2008, but it was abruptly stopped after Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) raised objections.
The AMlCP in KG Marg was sanctioned almost seven years ago and the NDMC had managed to get a ‘conditional approval’ from the NMA only in February last year. It was one of the three sites mentioned in the Master Plan of Delhi, 2021 for multi-level parking projects - the other two being the now operational Baba Kharak Singh Marg and Sarojini Nagar AMlCPs. The original plan of the project was to have two 40 metre high towers; out of
which one was meant for parking and another for a commercial complex. The NMA while approving the plan gave a major condition while giving its green signal. The authority restricted the height of the commercial tower to 21 metres due the site’s close proximity to the 13th century Agrasen Ki Baoli.
Since then the project has been stuck as the concessionaire cited that restricting the height of the commercial complex would result in revenue losses for them. According to the terms of the tender, the private firm was to build and operate the parking for 30 years and the construction cost would have been recovered from the parking lot and the commercial complex.