BMC says they want to concentrate on the two projects at Regal cinema junction and Crawford Market
BMC says they want to concentrate on the two projects at Regal cinema junction and Crawford Market
Despite its recent announcement stating otherwise, the BMC plans to build an underground parking lot at Bandra only after two similar projects in south Mumbai are completed in 2010. So, the underground parking lot
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on the congested Linking Road will come up only after its counterparts at the Regal junction and at Crawford Market are ready in September 2010.
Anil Diggikar, additional mun-icipal commissioner (projec- ts), said, "We will first complete the two projects in south Mumbai and check the response before replicating it in the western suburbs. Completing the first underground parking lot on time is our top priority right now."
The BMC had earlier chalked out plans to develop underground parking lots in the business areas of south Mumbai and central and western suburbs.
Added Subhash Kale, city engineer, western suburbs, "The BMC wants to get feedback for the underground parking project in the city, and use the same to make appropriate changes in the other projects."
But the traffic police in Bandra and locals aren't happy with this decision. Senior Inspector M S Kumbhar, Bandra traffic division, said, "There is no parking lot at Linking Road currently and controlling traffic here during peak hours is hell. The underground parking project would have handled lot of the traffic congestion in this area."
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Amar Choudhary, a resident of Bandra, added, "Parking is the need of the hour and such projects cannot be delayed, as the number of cars on Mumbai roads are rapidly rising. People are finding it very difficult to walk on Linking Road, as most of the cars are parked on the road. In next five years, the chaos on roads due to parked vehicles will be worse. They should start the parking project in the suburbs simultaneously."
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The underground parking lot at the Regal Cinema junction is expected to cost Rs 200 crore and the one at Crawford Market Rs 150 crore.
As per the plan, only 2,000 and 1,500 vehicles can be parked at the Regal and Crawford Market parking lots respectively. The demand, meanwhile, is for 3,500 and 3,000 vehicles respectively.
The administrative process for the appointment of the contractor will be finalised in the next two months and construction will begin soon.
After the completion of the parking lots, a one-km radius around them will be declared as no-parking zones. The contractor will be responsible for the maintenance of the plots for 25 years.
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