New parking lot on Cross-Cut Road

The Coimbatore Corporation opened on Sunday a parking lot on Cross-Cut Road (next to Lakshmi Complex) in order to decongest this stretch that is a major shopping area in the city.

Measuring more than 29,000 sq.ft., this site of the Corporation was once occupied by the civic body’s school. The structure had been in disuse for a long time and the rapidly rising number of vehicles parked on this road made the civic body to open this site for parking.

The Corporation said that close to 200 cars could be parked on this lot and this would ease the congestion on the parking space along the 1.2-km Cross-Cut Road. Mayor R. Venkatachalam said that this was, however, only a temporary arrangement.

The Corporation planned to have a multi-tier parking facility on this spot as part of a project under the Central Government’s infrastructure development programme, the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission. (Cross-Cut Road is one of the areas identified for multi-tier parking lots in the city.)

The Mayor said that Rural Industries Minister Pongalur N. Palanisamy, who opened the lot, also promised to provide his constituency development funds for two consecutive years if the Corporation wanted to build the multi-tier facility along this road.

Rates revision


The Mayor also said that the Corporation might take a fresh look at the parking fee fixed for cars and motorcycles. At present, the rates have been fixed at Rs.20 for a car for six hours of parking. In the wake of reservations over such a system, the Mayor said that a proposal to fix rates on an hourly basis would be placed before the Finance and Taxation Committee of the Coimbatore Corporation Council for its approval.

This would be viable for people who parked their vehicles for 30 minutes or even three hours. The rates on hourly basis would also avoid arguments that a vehicle’s stay at the lot had been only 20 minutes more than the stipulated period of six hours and therefore the extra rate could not be paid.

The Mayor said that a reserved site at Swarnabika Layout (Behind the old Ganga Hospital) would also be opened for parking till Deepavali.

“As there will be heavy rush for Deepavali shopping, we have decided to clean and open this site also for parking and a fee as in the case of the lot on Cross Cut Road will be collected,” he said.