While some places in Mumbai like Shoppers Stop in Bandra already have this system in place, it looks like Zaveri Bazaar will be getting a similar system.
Mumbai: The BMC, after setting in motion plans for underground parking lots, is now thinking of going vertical.
The civic body has proposed construction of six multi-storeyed car-parking towers at Zaveri Bazaar, one of the city’s busiest districts. All six towers will be 25 storeys high and will house cars that have to be parked along both sides of bustling streets in the Zaveri Bazaar-Kalbadevi area. The automated car-parks will altogether have a capacity to hold 300 cars.
The area, with markets for metal, textile and jewellery trades and both retailers and wholesalers, is always choc-abloc with pedestrian and vehicular traffic (both moving and parked). The car-park is expected to not only decongest streets, say officials, but also help the BMC’s plans to convert some roads in Zaveri Bazaar to pedestrian-only streets. The BMC has already done up the footpaths with chequered tiles and will soon divert all vehicular traffic to Dhanji Street, parallel to Zaveri Bazaar and connecting Crawford Market and Pydhonie. “Many of the local traders’ associations have decided to pitch in by sponsoring closed-circuit television sets, a public address system, dustbins, street furniture, police chowkies and other amenities that will spruce up the area,’’ local ward officer S S Dalvi said on Thursday.
The six towers will come up near the municipal school behind Mumbadevi temple on a 3000-square-metre plot that now has a few municipal chowkies, an open plot and a garden. Local traders have suggested that the garden remain untouched and the towers be built after shifting the existing barracks. “Each tower will not require an area of more than 45 sq metres. The locality is very vibrant and the roads here are otherwise as wide as 60 feet. We came upon this fantastic parking solution when we decided to do something to unclog the roads,’’ a member of the Bombay Bullion Association said. This association has agreed to instal street-lamps and beautify the roadside urinals.
The parking lots will come up on a build-operate-transfer basis. The contractor will be allowed to operate the towers and collect revenue from parking for five years, after which it will hand the towers over to the BMC. The rates for parking will be slightly on the higher side as compared to the rates at other BMC lots.