Chennai Airport MLCP: Public Convenience or Private Interest?

“The new multi-level car parking (MLCP) at Chennai airport won’t just increase the parking capacity and decongest traffic, Vishnudas L, Manager Corporate Communications at Airport Authority of India, Chennai, said. “It will also include commercial facilities like the PVR and multiple retail outlets,” he added.

However, passengers visiting the airport took to social media to complain about the car parking and the hassle in the airport entry and exit on December 4, the day it was thrown open to the public. According to a tweet by Dr. T.R.B. Rajaa, DMK’s IT wing secretary, the inconvenience was caused due to the “new parking tolls” and “very few entries and exits” at the new multi-level car parking.

“Instead of people’s convenience, which should be the primary purpose, the focus is on the infrastructure and the commercial entertainment that will be available,” Sukanya Singh, a passenger who had to wait for half an hour to exit the airport, said.

The parking space covers an area of 2.5 lakh square feet with the facility to accommodate 2150 cars, almost double as compared to the previous capacity of 1200 cars. It has five Electric Vehicle charging stations, three in the west section and two in the east.

The construction cum license to operate and maintain the multi-level car parking has been given to Meenambakkam Realty Private Limited, according to Vishnudas. “They do not have any previous experience of managing parking spaces, but Olympia group, one of its promoters, does,” Vishnudas said.

Olympia group is responsible for managing the commercial and retail space for the multi-level car parking, “positioned to serve the needs of arriving and departing passengers”, as per the Olympia group website. However, the group’s previous projects include commercial and residential projects and a retail project i.e., the Olympia North Mall apart from the Airport MLCP, that it categorizes under “retail projects”.

Olympia, therefore, has an experience of maintaining parking spaces that come as a supplement to its residential, commercial and retail projects. It has also been brought in to manage 327,350 sq. ft. of commercial and retail space on the multi-level car parking, as mentioned on its website.

“The trials were a partial study done by Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Chennai, but we are improving on whatever problems the passengers are facing,” Vishnudas said. However, with the MLCP being constructed by Meenambakkam Realty and the commercial and retail space managed by Olympia group, one of the leading developers in Chennai, the choice of IIT Chennai for partial trials is not the usual process when the primary purpose of the space is projected to be MLCP.

“The passengers have to pass through three checkpoints, delaying the arrival,” Shankar Guna, who works at one of the toll booths and hands out tokens to the passengers, said. “We have already proposed the removal of two checkpoints so that the vehicles can pass through only one and can go in and come out from the terminal lanes smoothly,” Vishnudas said.

Apart from the congestion and the entry and exit points, with cars not being allowed at the arrival area and being required to move to the MLCP, the passengers arriving have to walk up a “steep ramp with all their heavy luggage”, as a social media user tweeted. Vishnudas conceded the hassle that the passengers face while using the ramp, saying “We are looking for alternate solutions.”

The AAI had states in a press release earlier that the passengers could use the pedestrian paths and the bridges constructed at the multi-level car parking to reach the international and domestic terminals of the airport. “We are also looking towards increasing the space of the driveway leading up to the arrival and departure terminals and increasing the number of toll booths so that there are no wait queues to enter the MLCP,” Vishnudas said.

However, according to Sukanya, the corrective measures being taken now could have been discussed at the planning stages. “The MLCP has brought in even more problems than it has solved,” she added. With these problems pervading the multi-level car parking, the private enterprises Meenambakkam Realty and the Olympia Group have already released their plans to open a PVR and retail stores, specified on both their sites.

It’s not certain whether the improvements proposed will benefit the passengers and travelers as the government authority, Airports Authority of India intends to, but with the commercial and retail enterprises under way, its private partners are sure to reap the profits of the space.

Find the basic information and visuals of the Multi-level Car Parking here

https://arya-mishra.shorthandstories.com/multi-level-car-parking/