KMC pilot project kicks off with e-auction for 18 parking stretches
Times of India | 11 September 2025
Kolkata: The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) will conduct an e-auction for the selection of agencies that will operate the city's car parking lots. The first such e-auction for 18 road stretches that can accommodate up to 482 cars will be held next month.
A formal decision was taken at the mayor-in-council meeting on Wednesday. Some of these areas where these parking lots are situated include JL Nehru Road, Hindustan Park, Garcha Road, Lake View Road, Suren Tagore Road, Jatin Bagchi Road, Dover Lane, Hindustan Road, Ajaynagar, and Mukundapur, among others.
According to a KMC car parking department official, the new system was introduced to avoid unnecessary delays in allotting car parking slots to interested bidders.
Currently, the KMC allots car parking space to private agencies or cooperative societies by inviting a simple tender or an e-tender. However, the current system of allocation of parking space makes it mandatory for the civic body to ensure that at least three participants take part in the bidding.
Otherwise, the bidding is termed invalid. Under the new e-auction, there is no such compulsion, and hence the delays in the process can be avoided, pointed out a civic official.
A KMC official said the civic authority wanted the car parking department to take up a pilot project and invite an e-auction for 18 road stretches that comprise five lots in prime central and south Kolkata areas and a part of EM Bypass.
"Depending on the results of the trial run, we may decide to hand over all existing parking lots in the city. In the next phase, we will decide to call an auction for around 169 parking lots that will accommodate thousands of cars," said a KMC car parking department official.
The city has approximately 271 parking lots that can accommodate around 16,000 vehicles.
According to the member, mayor-in-council overseeing the KMC car parking department, Debasish Kumar, the proposed e-auction system will bring about dynamism in the car parking lot allocation. "The proposed e-auction will cut down unnecessary hazards associated with the allocation of parking lots amid a surge in demand for creating more space for parking in an ever-growing vehicle population," said Kumar.