30 December,2015 07:34 AM IST | | Tanvi Deshpande
The parking facility — that can house 250 cars and an equal number of bikes — is complete, but the civic body is waiting for the builder to hand over the amenity
Battling with its never-ending parking issues, Mumbai helplessly drowns everyday in a sea of vehicles during peak hours.
The BMC pay and park facility was constructed by Kanakia group on the busy Chandivali Road that has several commercial establishments and offices. Pic/Sameer Markande
One such area is Sakinaka, which is notorious for its incessant jams at the junction. Adding more to the parking woes of the residents and office goers, a G+2 parking lot in Sakinaka, Chandivali Road - which was constructed months ago - has still not been opened for public.
The pay and park facility was constructed by Kanakia group on the busy Chandivali Road that has several commercial establishments and offices. The facility could have brought a big respite to them.
The builder group in question was to build the facility and hand it over to the BMC. However, the handing over process by the builder seems to be taking forever.
When mid-day visited the facility on Tuesday, the watchman on site confirmed that the civic body hasn't received the possession of the amenity plot. The watchman also told mid-day that the inauguration of the property was scheduled in January 2016, however, it is postponed till March.
"I have been seeing this board at the entrance of the building for months now, but we are not allowed to park our cars here. The watchmen say that it still hasn't been inaugurated. Why does it take so long to inaugurate such facilities?" asked Rahul Kamat, who works in an office in neighbouring complex.
Satyaprakash Singh, assistant commissioner of L ward said, "There were two pay-and-park facilities constructed by private builders in the Sakinaka area. While one has been handed over to us, the other is not."
The Kanakia group did not respond to mid-day's queries till the time of going to press.
BMC's barter deal
As a part of common practice in the construction business, when builders are provided with a certain incentive (Floor Space Index, etc.), they enter into an agreement with the BMC to develop an amenity like a welfare center, library, parking lot, recreational center and others.
In this case, the Kanakia group constructed a basement+2 parking facility - which can house up to 250 cars and equal numbers of bikes - around six months ago. Besides, there is a taxi parking facility in the premises. The entire building is under CCTV surveillance.
According to procedure, the property is first handed over to the BMC's development planning department, who then hands it over to the ward.
An official from the department said, "The procedure requires the builder to submit several NOCs to us, from the fire brigade, traffic department, police etc. They are yet to submit the NOC from the road department in this case. Once that is done, the actual hand over to the ward won't take long. The process, then, will be done in a month."
