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Old Posted Mar 6, 2007, 5:19 AM
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RIVAL FOR BKC? - Wadala will soon be a business hub

Verdict on Gateway plan today
Quote:
TOI Epaper 21 Feb 2007

Toilets proposed in the earlier plaza have been dropped in this recent plan

Naresh Kamath
Mumbai

THE GRAND makeover planned for the Gateway of India may finally come through. On Wednesday, the beautification plan for the heritage structure will be placed before the standing committee of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) — after a two-year wait.

If it is passed, it means in the near future a visit to Gateway will not entail being greeted by pesky hawkers, parking chaos. Haphazardly planned and illmaintained gardens will give way to better organised green areas with facilities.


Visitors will be able to enjoy a view of the Gateway of India from a viewers plaza and also enjoy the sea breeze from the 400metre promenade to be built in the vicinity of the structure.

The Rs 4.59-crore plan to give a face-lift to the surroundings was prepared by noted architect P.K. Das for the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH).

Mayor Datta Dalvi said the beautification will be undertaken keeping in mind the historic importance of the place. “This is a significant structure in the city and visited by lakhs of tourists,” said Dalvi. “Changes will be made keeping in mind existing aesthetic aspects of the place.” Besides signage and lighting, the plan includes shifting stalls like ticket booths, milk centres and a police chowky to one side.


ON THE CARDS
1. A gallery of steps will be constructed at foot of the Shivaji statue. There will be an elevated garden around the statue. The gallery will be used to hold shows; visitors can sit there and look at the bay.

2. A section for amenities (milk centre, police chowki, ticket kiosks will be built below elevated garden near Wittet fountain.

3. Parking lot behind statue connected to the amenities section. Parking spaces on both sides of the garden will be removed.



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RIVAL FOR BKC? - Wadala will soon be a business hub
Quote:
DNA India Epaper 21 Feb 07

Gigil

Varghese
Mumbai

STATE URBAN planners expect to soon finish drafting a plan to develop a huge swathe of Wadala as a business district to rival the Bandra-Kurla Complex, after dusting off a nearly three-decade-old proposal. The plan also envisions making the area the city’s transport hub.

The plan will be completed in about a month
, said T. Chandrashekhar, joint commissioner of Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authori ty, which is working on the plan along with a consultant.

“We are pushing to get the project off the ground,” he said. The project was mooted in 1979, but didn’t take off, unlike the other projects that planning body has pulled off, including the Bandra-Kurla Complex.

The planning body has finished acquiring nearly all the 200 acres identified for the project, and will soon shift transit tenements in the area to another location, said an official.

The district is to include commercial centers, hotels, multiplexes, parking lots and parks. These buildings will be subject to architectural norms relating to height and facades, which the planning body will stipulate as it did for the Bandra-Kurla Complex.

The plan also envisions making the area the terminus for bus and truck operators, although an official said they may initially protest against moving from their current hub near the Mumbai port in south Mumbai because they pay very low rents there.

Road links to the district will also be improved, officials said.
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Last edited by Jai; Mar 6, 2007 at 6:32 AM.
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