Underground parking projects in Mumbai to get rolling after monsoon

The city is set to get its first two underground parking lots – one under Raosaheb Patwardhan Park at Bandra’s Linking Road and another under Jhula Maidan, near Mumbai Central.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) aims to start the construction work of both projects by October this year. To tackle the perennial parking problem in the space-crunched city, the civic body had proposed the idea of underground parking lots. However, in 2009, the project had taken a back seat owing to financial disputes within the corporation.

After civic chief Ajoy Mehta announced the plan to build underground parking lots last year, Hafeez Contractor was appointed as the consultant for both the projects. The new state-approved development control rules (DCR) for 2034 also include an additional provision to create a parking authority. According to BMC’s plan, three-storey parking lots will be constructed for motorists in the suburbs and one for motorists in south Mumbai. While the one at Bandra will have a capacity to house 700 four-wheelers and two-wheelers, the one in the island city will have parking spaces for 1,700 vehicles. Together, the projects are to cost BMC around ₹120 crore, with an additional consultancy cost of ₹2.4 crore.

A spokesperson of the consulting architect said, “We have planned intelligent parking systems at both sites. This includes sensor-based parking spaces, live screens, mechanical ventilation, proper illumination, security and CCTVs.”

“The project also includes revamping the parks above the lots. The work will be done in phases so that the public is able to access a part of the park at all times. We are also planning to build a shopping plaza above the lot at Linking Road but this has not been finalised,” she added.

BMC city engineer Chandrashekhar Marathe told HT that existing underground utility lines like water pipelines will have to be diverted before for the construction. “This may take a while so the expected time period for the projects is two-and-a-half years” said Marathe. Scheme 33 (24) of the Development Control Regulations (DCR), that was introduced nine years ago, allowed developers to construct parking lots on a part of their project and hand them over to the BMC, in exchange for additional floor space index (FSI) that would let them build skyscrapers. The scheme promised developers 50% additional FSI, in lieu of 60% of ready reckoner rates as premium.

Under this scheme, BMC had also planned eight multi-level parking lots at Lower Parel’s space-crunched office hub. Of the eight, two lots are expected to be opened by the end of May.