New Delhi:The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) will identify over 3,000 vacant land parcels in the next year to develop surface parking facilities across the city, officials said on Wednesday after chairing a meeting by lieutenant governor (LG) Taranjit Singh Sandhu.An official said the project intends to create organised parking infrastructure in areas where vehicles are currently parked along roadsides.Officials said 232 plots have been identified in the first phase and are ready for tender. Spread across multiple zones in the capital, these plots are expected to accommodate nearly 100,000 vehicles.The move aims to address Delhi’s chronic parking shortage and reduce traffic congestion caused by indiscriminate roadside parking in residential, commercial and mixed-use areas.All seven Lok Sabha MPs from Delhi and senior DDA officials attended the meeting which focused on housing, land utilisation and civic infrastructure projects. Discussions also included parking management, encroachments, traffic congestion, DDA parks accessibility and utilisation of vacant public land.Officials said the initiative would be implemented in phases. Of the 232 plots, 98 are located in Dwarka Zone, 53 in North Zone, 30 in Rohini Zone, 28 in East Zone and 23 in South Zone.An official said the project intends to create organised parking infrastructure in areas where vehicles are currently parked along roadsides, resulting in carriageway narrowing and traffic bottlenecks.“These sites will help streamline vehicle movement. Several localities and commercial stretches face severe parking stress daily and such surface parking facilities will ease congestion and improve traffic circulation,” the official said.Official added that the identification of over 3,000 vacant land parcels would create a citywide inventory of land that can be used for public parking without requiring major construction activity.“The idea is to utilise vacant land parcels lying unused. Surface parking can be developed in a relatively short time and provide immediate relief in high-demand areas. This will also help reduce encroachments and improve accessibility in several parts of the city,” the official said.The MPs also flagged encroachments and unauthorised occupation as major civic concerns. Officials said such coordination meetings between elected representatives and civic agencies are expected to become a regular exercise with periodic reviews of pending civic and infrastructure issues.The LG also reiterated earlier directions that all DDA parks must remain open between 6am and 10am daily and that parks with entry fees should allow free public access during those hours.