The Indian Express 12.12.2013
Residents may get to park at malls at lower rates
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's proposed parking policy that seeks to raise fees for the facility by roughly 300 per cent at popular spaces has been approved by the group leaders of political parties in the civic body.
According in-principle approval Wednesday, the leaders suggested that residents be given the right to park their vehicles during night at malls and public-private-parking lots (PPLs) constructed by developers under Section 33 (24) of the Development Control Regulations, at residential rates.
"The parking rates will remain the same. We are looking at bringing a fresh policy by incorporating the suggestion from the leaders and the people of the city," said Mayor Sunil Prabhu.
Samajwadi Party leader Rais Shaikh said, "We are fine with higher charges as long as it is done legally and fairly. At many places, residents do not have space to park their vehicles and are charged exorbitant fees by malls and other private establishments for night-parking. We understand the issue of traffic but are concerned that an idealist parking policy may not be properly implemented with the existing infrastructure. Hence, we have suggested some of these measures to the civic administration."
Around two weeks ago, the civic improvements committee rejected the parking policy citing the proposed increase in fares as too high for the common man. The committee referred the proposal back to the BMC and asked the administration to reduce the rates. However, citing space constraints and traffic problems, the BMC said reducing the fares would not be an option.
Additional Municipal Commissioner SVR Srinivas said, "The clearance given to the policy by the group leaders is a positive development. We are now working on implementing their suggestions in the policy before it is re-submitted to the improvements committee."
Till date, the civic body has approved of 32 PPLs, of which 26 have received letters of intent (LoI) while 11 have received commencement certificates (CC). According to the revised DCR, a PPL (of over 700 sq m built-up area) can be constructed on a minimum plot size of 1,000 sq m in the island city or 2,000 sq m in the suburbs. The PPL must accommodate at least 50 cars. As an incentive, an additional 40 per cent Floor Space Index (FSI) is granted to builders. An incentive of 50 per cent FSI is granted for lots constructed near railway stations, government offices, and religious or tourists spots (with a cap of 4 FSI for island city and 3 for suburbs).
Leaders have also suggested that policy be uploaded on the BMC website and its page on Facebook for public access. Other suggestions include giving the BMC responsibility for monitoring illegal street parking during the daytime, procuring an NOC (No objection certificate) for street parking in front of buildings from the residential societies concerned, and retrieving BMC-owned parking spots that have been lost to private players.
