The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will set up seven underground multi-level parking facilities in South Mumbai doubling vehicle capacity. Two each will be near Crawford Market (one outside the police headquarters and one near Manish Market) and Hutatma Chowk, and one each near Eros Cinema, Regal Cinema and Jehangir Art Gallery. The on-street pay-and-park facilities in these areas will be discontinued.
The removal of the current parking lots will not only free space for vehicular traffic and pedestrians, but also increase parking capacity to 1,400 from 700 vehicles.
The BMC will spend Rs444 crore in setting up the parking lots. City-based firm Venue Infrastructure has been appointed to develop and maintain the lots for 30 years. The company, which will use technology by German parking systems firm Wöhr, will retain the revenue from the parking sites for 30 years, after which the sites will be handed over to the BMC free-of-cost.
In effect, the BMC will end up paying Rs1.05 lakh per vehicle space annually. BMC officials justified the decision to part with revenue saying the running costs of the facilities will be high.
Initial plans to develop the sites on a design-build-operate-and-transfer (DBOT) basis — where the contractor would have borne the cost of construction and would have been given 30% space for commercial exploitation — were shelved following security concerns since buildings like the city and state police headquarters are located near the parking sites. Also, BMC officials said, commercial establishments inside the parking bay would have attracted additional vehicular traffic.
The officials said the project is expected to be completed within a year and a half from the date of approval to be given by the corporation’s standing committee.
The model to be used was vetted by German parking expert Ilja Irmscher, assistant commissioner of police (traffic) Amarjeet Singh and transport expert Ashok Datar.
The BMC is introducing mechanised parking also in Kurla, Borivili and Powai, but these are likely to be above the ground. A recent regulation provides FSI perks to land owners for setting up public car parks on plots.
