SLUG: AMC TAKES A U-TURNAhmedabad: In what’s fast becoming a civic comedy of errors, the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation’s (AMC) grand multilevel parking-cum-commercial complex in Prahladnagar is set to exit the parking business altogether. Built two years ago on Anandnagar Road at a cost of Rs 93 crore, the structure has failed to attract buyers despite four auction attempts — and is now being lined up for a full-scale sale to private players, with the clause to shut the parking and repurpose the building entirely.After trying (and failing) to sell shops and floors separately, AMC has decided to sell the entire complex along with its 6,902 sq m plot opposite Prahladnagar Garden in the Western part of the city. The new base price: a hefty Rs 367 crore — Rs 274 crore for the land and Rs 93 crore for construction. A proposal to authorise the municipal commissioner to go ahead with the sale will be placed before the standing committee on Jan 29.The complex was originally marketed floor-by-floor, with base prices starting at Rs 2.74 lakh per sq m for the ground floor, Rs 2.35 lakh for the first floor and about Rs 1.3 lakh for upper floors. But despite multiple auction rounds and even a rate revision by Auda’s Land Price Fixing Committee, buyers stayed away — proving that sometimes even prime locations can’t park investor interest.Now, the AMC’s strategy has shifted from “park here” to “do whatever you want here”. Since the plot is designated for commercial sale, the future owner will be free to discontinue parking altogether and convert the building into a hotel, office complex, mall, or any other commercial structure.The Prahladnagar facility is not alone in this civic mismanagement. AMC also built the Sindhu Bhavan multilevel parking at a cost of Rs 97 crore along with the one at Prahlandnagar, and both facilities together — worth Rs 190 crore — remain largely underutilised despite grand inaugurations. Earlier projects at Kankaria and Navrangpura met similar fates, turning multilevel parking into a multi-location problem.Across seven such sites in the city, AMC has created parking capacity for 2,088 two-wheelers and 1,824 four-wheelers — but the public continues to ignore them, even as roadside parking chokes Ahmedabad daily.BOX: Multiple failuresNavrangpura Case: Built in 2016 for Rs 59 crore, only two shops were sold; the rest were converted into govt offices. Similar projects in Kankaria, Sindhu Bhavan, and Prahladnagar also failed to attract buyersFlawed Model: Commercial complexes integrated with multilevel parking on high-value land have not worked. Ongoing projects in Chandlodiya and Danapith now face uncertaintySindhu Bhavan Outcome: In July 2023, AMC offered 12,868.62 sq m for Rs 197 crore. No bids were received for the 1st and 5th floors. One bidder took the ground floor for Rs 80 crore, paid Rs 8 crore upfront, but the remaining amount is still pendingFuture of Prahladnagar: New owner of multilevel parking will be free to discontinue parking altogether and convert the building into a hotel, office complex, mall, or any other commercial structure
