To cope with chaotic streetside parking and to manage traffic effectively in congested railway station areas, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will construct seven multi-level parking lots in the city. According to 2007 estimates, there are already 14 lakh vehicles in the city, with 400 new vehicles being registered daily. This has caused unplanned parking along roadsides, which in turn reduces space on roads by more than 20 per cent.
“There is a need to create more parking spaces in the city. Accordingly, these spots have been selected which will be developed on a Public-Private Partnership model,” said Additional Municipal Commissioner R A Rajeev. “There is no limit on the use of FSI for construction of parking spots and therefore multi-level lots will be constructed making maximum use of the space.”
The locations of the proposed mechanised parking lots are Dadar (S K Bole Marg), Matunga (outside the railway station), two spots at Borivali (near the ward office and outside the station), two spots at Kurla (near the railway station) and three in Powai (along Adi Shankaracharya Marg). All these locations are close to railway stations and commuters can park their vehicles and take a local train to reach their destinations.
“We will also construct skywalks from these parking spots as it will be efficient for commuters to park and walk. The parking spot at S K Bole Marg can have a skywalk connecting it to Dadar station and to Siddhivinayak temple in Prabhadevi. Wherever possible, skywalks will be constructed,” Rajeev said.
Each of these spots can accommodate 300 to 350 four-wheelers. Civic officials said that priority would be given to mechanised parking lots. “If a parking lot is multi-storeyed, then commuters cannot wait too long to park and then come down. Mechanised systems will just lift cars and owners can retrieve them in less than two minutes,” said Chief Engineer (Roads) D L Shinde. The BMC has already constructed a multi-storeyed mechanised parking lot on a PPP basis at Bhulabhai Desai Road.
The civic administration will now invite tenders for contractors to develop these parking lots. Contractors will also be given 30 per cent of the space for commercial exploitation.