Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation will develop five smart parking zones with app-based booking, geo-fencing, CCTV surveillance and sensors to address illegal roadside parking and congestion in parts of the city. Three facilities are planned along the Left Parallel Road between Hatiasuni and Utkal Hospital, while two will be built beneath the Bomikhal and Khandagiri flyovers.
The proposed Bhubaneswar smart parking system will allow motorists to view real-time availability and reserve a space before reaching a parking zone through a dedicated mobile application. An IT firm is currently developing the application, according to officials. The system will digitally monitor individual parking spaces and record vehicle entry and exit within the designated areas.
BMC additional commissioner Kailash Chandra Dash said the identified locations would be remodelled into organised parking facilities. The sites will have signboards, earmarked lots, barricades and fencing, along with separate entry and exit points, he said. High-end CCTV cameras and sensors are also planned at each location.
The proposed parking fee is Rs 5 per hour for motorcycles and Rs 20 per hour for cars. Each booking will initially be valid for one hour. Under the proposed arrangement, motorists will select an available parking lot shown on the application and reserve a slot before arriving at the facility.
The parking zones are expected to be managed initially by personnel engaged through private agencies operating the sites. BMC plans to gradually move towards a fully automated and remotely monitored system, which would reduce the need for on-site staff. The civic body has not specified a completion date for the five facilities in the supplied announcement.
The smart parking plan is part of a wider expansion of organised parking infrastructure in Bhubaneswar. BMC has recently identified 36 government land parcels for conversion into parking spaces and floated tenders to appoint private operators. Under that arrangement, a private agency can manage up to five parking lots in return for sharing monthly revenue with the civic body.
The newly identified sites are spread across different parts of the city to respond to demand for organised vehicle parking. Smart Janpath is the only exception mentioned by officials. The five proposed technology-enabled zones will add a digital monitoring layer to the conventional parking facilities being planned by BMC, while the civic body proceeds with site remodelling, tendering and operator appointments.
