Asia Everest has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Ahmedabad Urban Development Authority (AUDA) to this effect.

The Rs 250-crore project will be the first state-of-the-art parking system in Gujarat. It will be a build-lease-transfer (BLT) project where the maintenance will be borne by Asia Everest, while the government bodies will manage the project locally.

Cities like Bangalore and Hyderabad were among the first tech-savvy cities to install parking metres, but it had received a lukewarm response.

Zeev Muliashia, chairman, Asia Everest, said, “This is a disciplined method to manage parking on roads. With cheaper cars and new automobiles coming in, the density of vehicles is bound to grow. The Gujarat government was also looking for a solution to the parking problem and we are offering the solution.”

Muliashia said he had talks with Chief Minister Narendra Modi, Kailash Nath and the Ahmedabad municipal commissioner, who showed “immense interest” in the project.

According to the officials of Asia Everest, this hi-tech parking system involves installation of parking metres on main roads of the city. The local body will conduct a thorough check of the spots of high density of vehicles and the areas where illegal parking is high and inform the company.

The company will launch the meter installation drive as soon as it gets the list of important areas. The first phase will cover all the main and busy roads of the city.

Muliashia further said: “The metres will serve as watchdogs that will record all the details of a car. Whether the person has parked, not paid or fudged— everything will be automatically recorded in the control centre. Warning reports will be issued and payment will be enforced in the first stage. In the second stage, drivers will be put to task.”

To monitor the system, supervisors and wardens will be recruited with hand held terminals. A computerised control centre will manage the metres, hand held terminals and other tools. A specially designed vehicle will patrol in the city and transport the illegally parked vehicles to the central lot.

Drivers will have to pay the parking fees through smart cards or coins, while those caught cheating will be penalised. “The amount of fine will be decided by the government body and the traffic

department. AMC, AUDA and we will be the partners in profit. We are also consulting the traffic department to integrate this system in the existing traffic system in the city,” he added.

Anticipating some initial hiccups, the company will also set up a customer service