Mumbai diary: Eastern coast to get 11-km promenade

Mumbai diary: Eastern coast to get 11-km promenade

The proposal to redevelop the city’s eastern waterfront with an 11-km-long promenade, a central park and a hi-tech city, was revived at a recent review meeting of the Shipping Ministry.

Mumbai’s eastern coast to get 11-km promenade

The proposal to redevelop the city’s eastern waterfront with an 11-km-long promenade, a central park and a hi-tech city, was revived at a recent review meeting of the Shipping Ministry. The Bombay Port Trust (BPT) had proposed a similar project with a Burj Khalifa-like tower. However, the proposal couldn’t get a green signal from the PMO. Hence the shipping ministry has now taken up the project as a part of monetising the non-core port assets, which is expected to take off by November. Apart from other parts of the project like the ropeway to Elephanta Island, the ministry has now proposed to develop a new port at Vadhavan, nearly 140km north of Mumbai, by 2023.

BMC app to locate empty parking lots

After hiking the penalty for illegal parking and opening up BEST bus depots for parking private vehicles, the BMC has moved a step ahead and launched a mobile application to help motorists find empty public parking lots (PPLs). Currently, the city has 26 PPLs with a capacity of more than 20,000 vehicles and 24 BEST depots have been opened up to accommodate 3,000 more vehicles. The app named ‘MCGM 24x7’ helps one find information about parking lots like the address of parking lots, timings, types of vehicles allowed and parking charges according to the vehicle type etc. In addition to its drive to de-clutter Mumbai roads, the BMC is also coming up with plans to promote e-vehicles under which charging points would we made available in select parking lots.

BEST wins commuters with AC minibuses

The city transport authority that slashed rates recently to win back commuters is successful with its new feeder services with air-conditioned minibuses. The passenger growth on trail routes is encouraging and the  Brihan-mumbai Electricity Supply and Transport (BEST)administration has decided to procure around 400 new AC minibuses, authorities have said. On some of the routes like in the business district of Churchgate to Nariman Point, the hike in the number of commuters has gone up by a whopping 80 per cent. More such services are expected to begin soon.

Mumbai is migrating to neighbouring districts

Mumbai has been an aspirational destination and people from all over the country have been migrating here since ages. However, a recent study has shown that the city has lost over nine lakh of its population over 10 years between 2001 and 2011. The study analysed Census data to find out patterns of migration in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region. It shows that while the population of Mumbai has declined, the population of the neighbouring city of Thane has gone up by 29.3 lakh during the corresponding time frame. The reason for this migration is primarily easy availability of affordable homes. Raigad, the other neighbouring district of Mumbai, too has seen people migrating there. The rate is slower than Thane. However, it is expected to go up once the new international airport comes. 

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