Mumbai: 1,058-slot Prabhadevi public parking lot lies unused for over a year

A 1058slot public parking lot PPL built in Prabhadevi has remained shut for more than a year after being handed over to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation BMC exposing an administrative deadlock that has left a fully constructed public utility lying unusedThe Pay amp Park facility located at Rustomjee Crown behind Motilal Oswal Towers in Prabhadevi West is ready for use However the civic body has failed to operationalise it because it has been unable to find a contractor willing to run the facilityThe latest attempt to appoint an operator also failed after no bids were received Civic officials now plan to reduce the licence fee by 30 per cent and float a fresh tender after approval from the Additional Municipal Commissioner Projectsmidday had first reported the issue on April 24 when officials had attributed the delay to a contractor failing to complete the onboarding process following which the bidder was blacklisted and a fresh tender was initiated A civic official said the presence of several existing parking lots nearby has made the project commercially unattractiveldquoOne reason this PPL is struggling to attract bids is that there are other already operational PPLs in the area Contractors are cynical about the amount of business this PPL will generaterdquo the official saidWhy is it still shutAccording to civic officialsgtgt Three tenders have already been floatedgtgt The latest tender failed after receiving no bidsgtgt BMC now plans to reduce the licence fee by 30 per cent before inviting fresh bidsOfficials said the upcoming revised license fee should make this tender attractive for the disinterested contractorsOfficial SpeakCivic official familiar with the matterlsquoAfter the last tender failed to attract bids it was decided that the tender amount be decreased by 30 per cent The proposal is with the Additional Municipal Commissioner Projects Once approved the tender will be refloated with the revised pricing expecting a better response The tender process itself will take at least three monthsrsquoHow the parking lot came upAccording to civic officialsgtgt The parking facility was constructed by a private developergtgt It was developed in exchange for an incentive FSIgtgt The BMC did not incur any capital expenditure on constructiongtgt The facility was later handed over to the civic body for operation and maintenancegtgt The BMC is now loosing out on regular monthly revenue from the PPLAt a glancePublic parking lotLocation Rustomjee Crown behind Motilal Oswal Towers Prabhadevi WestCapacity 1058 parking slotsStatus Fully constructed but nonoperationalHanded over to BMC Around one year ago according to civic officialsResidentsrsquo claim Structure has been ready for nearly two yearsTender timelineFirst tenderNo contractor qualifiedSecond tenderOne contractor won the bid but failed to complete mandatory onboarding formalitiesContractor was subsequently blacklistedThird tenderNo bids receivedFourth tender proposedgtgt Monthly licence fee likely to be reduced from R2495 lakh to R1746 lakhgtgt Security deposit reduced from R15cr to R1crgtgt Proposal awaiting approval from the Additional Municipal Commissioner ProjectsResident SpeakVinayak Ankam Prabhadevi residentlsquoThis is the height of inefficiency of the civic body The area has many old buildings and we donrsquot have private parking spaces We end up paying huge fines for parking on the roads rsquoPublic representative speakMahesh Sawant area MLAlsquoI have received concerns from many citizens It has remained nonoperational for years The primary reason is overvaluation of the place by civic officials Contractors are not ready to pay that kind of money I personally requested both sides mdash the contractors and senior civic officials mdash but contractors said the quotation by the BMC doesnrsquot make business sense The BMC is ready to let the place remain idle but wonrsquot reduce the tender amount I had told them something is better than nothingrsquo