Bhubaneswar: The smart city authorities finally begun work on the multi-level car park facility at Saheed Nagar here after months of delays.

But the authorities have not been so kind to the proposed other project at Unit-II where not a single brick has moved.

Bhubaneswar Smart City Limited, the special purpose vehicle executing smart city projects here, chalked out plans for two multi-level car park facilities to regulate the problem of haphazard parking at Janpath (Saheed Nagar) and Rajpath (Unit-II).

"Janpath is important as it houses a number of huge commercial establishments, including shopping malls. Rajpath is also important as it is home to two of the city's biggest markets - Rajdhani Haat and the Unit-II wholesale vegetable market. We selected the two sites on the basis of their importance," said a smart city official.

On-street parking is common in both these areas and, according to local residents, the problem is more acute on Rajpath because of the Rajdhani Haat, which is one of the busiest and cheapest shopping areas here.

"Janpath is a lot wider. I don't find on-street parking on Janpath to be a real problem. However, it creates nuisance at Rajpath. On-street parking and vending on the stretch makes the road even narrower and congested. The authorities should have started the project first at Rajpath," said Chirag Garg, a local shopkeeper at the market.

Chief minister Naveen Patnaik laid the foundation stones for both the projects last June.

The Unit-II facility will be developed over 0.972 acres, while the Saheed Nagar project will cover 0.75 acres. Once completed, the Unit-II facility will have space for 450 cars along with a 57,000sqft commercial area. The Saheed Nagar parking facility will have spaces for 250 cars and a 38,000sqft for commercial use.

Sources said the land for both the projects was cleared and the deadline for the project at Unit-II is December 2018, while that for the Saheed Nagar project is June 2018.

"We selected the project executor last year and asked it to start work on both the projects simultaneously. We will look if the executor is having any problems at Unit-II," said mayor Ananta Narayan Jena.