Bhubaneswar: To address the city’s chronic parking crisis, Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Tuesday floated tenders to develop and operate 36 parking lots on govt land across the city.The initiative aims to create organised parking spaces, reduce roadside congestion and support enforcement of no-parking regulations in key areas.Under the tender conditions, a private agency can operate a maximum of five parking lots. The selected operators will pay monthly revenue to the BMC as part of an agreement with the civic body. Except for Smart Janpath corridor, proposed parking facilities are spread across different locations in the city.BMC additional commissioner Kailash Chandra Dash said the sites were chosen based on the prevalence of haphazard parking and availability of govt land near major institutions, hotels and office complexes.“The new parking lots are located at strategic places where erratic parking has been noticed. There is govt land available and there are big institutions nearby. We will designate these places as authorised parking zones after the tender process is over and parking lots are allotted to private agencies,” Dash said.The move is expected to complement the joint efforts of the BMC and commissionerate police, which had earlier identified more than 400 no-parking zones across Bhubaneswar to decongest roads and improve traffic flow. Of these, 21 stretches have been classified as major no-parking corridors by the police.Officials said several of the govt plots shortlisted for parking development are located close to these critical no-parking zones. According to Dash, availability of authorised parking facilities near restricted stretches will provide motorists with convenient alternatives while helping authorities enforce parking rules more effectively.“Many of the identified govt lands are close to the majority of the 21 no-parking zones. If authorised parking lots are available nearby, the sanctity of the no-parking zones can be maintained while simultaneously ensuring organised parking,” he said.While no-parking zones identified by police cover largely long stretches of roads, locations earmarked by the BMC include a mix of small and large spaces, many of them near institutions. Civic officials noted that no-parking zones are dynamic and may be revised depending on traffic volume, public footfall and changing urban requirements.Officials said no-parking zones have already been identified in all 67 municipal wards and will eventually be marked with signboards and clear instructions for motorists.Chaotic parking of two-wheelers and cars has remained a long-standing problem in Bhubaneswar, contributing to traffic snarls and inconvenience around markets, shopping centres and office districts. Barring the relatively organised parking system along Smart Janpath, most parts of the city continue to struggle with unregulated roadside parking, making the new parking lots a key component of the city’s traffic management strategy.