MUMBAI: Finding parking space in the busy
Lower Parel area is set to become a little easier as a six-level facility for 4,575 vehicles is about to open near the
Senapati Bapat Marg-Pandurang Bapat Marg junction. Work on the facility, constructed under the Public Parking Lot (PPL) scheme, is almost complete and trial runs have started. Currently vehicles are being allowed to park free of cost.
Lower Parel and its adjoining areas are congested through the day, with the former mill land turning into a commercial and corporate hub in the past two decades. Nearly 3.5 lakh people are employed in offices in the Lower Parel-Elphinstone Road belt.
“This is one of the biggest public parking spaces in the city. Once the facility is operational it will benefit several motorists. Whenever a car enters, a camera will capture the number plate and register the entry time. Motorists will have to pay the parking charge while taking their vehicle out. Another advantage is that the facility can accommodate buses as well,” assistant municipal commissioner G-South Ward Devendra Kumar Jain said adding that the parking lot will be handed over to the BMC shortly.
There are special fire-fighting arrangements on every floor and a digital board at the entrance that displays how many parking spaces are available on every floor. The facility will have parking spaces for the disabled as well.
Once the facility is operational, the rates would be as per the BMC’s new parking policy. Under the policy, the city has been divided into three zones —A, B and C—based largely on
footfalls for applying differential parking rates. The highest rates are for the most crowded places such as Lower Parel.
The BMC’s FSI for parking scheme, under which the facility has been built, has been mired in controversy, but officials expressed hope that this facility will help to decongest the area which is witnessing a boom in offices as well as other commercial establishments.
Representative image
