Mumbai: Menace of interstate buses inside city could soon become thing of past

The site of the Dahisar octroi naka on the Western Express Highway on September 12. Pics/Satej Shinde

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has issued a tender worth Rs 1,481 crore to develop the transport and business hub at Dahisar octroi naka site. If all goes as planned, all interstate bus services will terminate at the entry point of the city. With the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in 2017, octroi was abolished, BMC-owned land which earlier housed collection points and octroi offices was freed up. "The BMC proposed the development of the octroi naka site into a transportation and commercial hub," said an official. There will be retail and recreational spaces and the facility will help organise interstate bus movement, decongest traffic within the city and generate revenue for the BMC through leases and rent," the official stated.

According to the documents, the transport and commercial hub will be developed in two phases. In the first phase, a two-basement-and-four-floor building will be constructed, which will mainly be used as a transport hub and contain commercial offices. In the second phase, a 14-floor and 24-floor building will be constructed. "We have plans to terminate all intercity buses at the transport hub," the official said. There is a proposal to redevelop a hotel as part of the second phase. "Although this tender is for the Dahisar transport hub, a similar facility will come out at the site of the Mankhurd octroi naka," the official added.

Project facts

"According to the proposal, at Dahisar, we have access to 1.15 lakh square metres of built-up area. There will be a bay for 23 buses, 456 bus parking areas and 1,424 car parking areas with 131 hotel rooms. There will be a restaurant, cafe, banquet and plaza. The estimated cost of the first phase is Rs 715.47 crore while that of the second is Rs 765.76 crore. "The Dahisar octroi naka is connected to the Metro railway station at present. In the future, we can run bus and other public transport services from there. This will reduce the load on private buses," the official added.