MUMBAI: The Mumbai Architects Collective (MAC) is demanding public disclosure on two of Mumbai’s most high-profile projects involving green, open spaces. The MAC first raised its voice against the proposed makeover of the Mahalaxmi racecourse a week ago, pointing out that the revamped racecourse would convert a massive, natural holding pond into impermeable underground structures that is bound to cause flooding in the area.
On Thursday, MAC members demanded that 298 acres of landscape space – 125 acres at the racecourse and 173 acres of Coastal Road gardens – be designed as a single contiguous entity, a unified ecological and social asset.
They also questioned eight “missing” acres in the racecourse project, and also sought justification for creating 6,200 new parking spaces within or near these projects. “Where is the traffic demand study that justifies this scale,” they asked in a letter signed by 119 MAC members and addressed to chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and municipal commissioner Bhushan Gagrani.
The proposed racecourse revamp will create a large underground sports complex and parking facility beneath the racecourse, apart from including elaborate plans at ground level. In their letter, MAC has questioned how tenders were issued for basements without clarity on the total project cost including three levels of parking (5,000 vehicles), a sports complex, and a convention facility, which they estimated could cost ₹500-600 crore.
Referring to the recent public presentation on the project by Gagrani, MAC pointed out that it missed a key element about the project being open for public access. “Will these spaces be freely accessible? From where will they be accessible? Will they operate 24 hours? Will there be fees, memberships or booking controls? Underground facilities inherently require regulated access and security,” they said.
Senior architect Nitin Killawala, a signatory to the letter, said, “While the 125 acres of the Mahalaxmi racecourse land along with the 93 acres under the Royal Western India Turf Club (RWITC) should have amounted to 218 acres, we wonder how the project figure comes to 226 acres. Eight acres is a lot and there should be clarity on this.”
Another signatory Samarth Das said the second letter was meant to present more facts that expose the BMC’s stand and to demand more accountability based on hard numbers and facts and not “guesstimates”.
“Citizens are wary of uncontrolled real estate development in the city and would like to ensure that land is used for the public’s right of way and not for real estate exploitation,” said Das.
“The concept of a flower garden is an eyewash, considering that they are building four levels of underground sports complex which will take away ecological benefits of the racecourse,” he said. “There should be accountability of public projects, land and public funds. Plans should be based on services, ecology, hard facts and real numbers. Citizens should be part of this process.”
Architect Pranav Naik, remarked, “Primarily we are asking for information and transparency. The design itself is hugely flawed, and will lead to disastrous outcomes for the city.”