My last two blogs, posted on November 24, covered the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) of Mumbai, which is building seven underground garages. I mentioned that I like the business model as a concept, but I also noted that the public is not going to use the car parks if there is free parking available on the streets of Mumbai.
One thing that keeps bothering me about this: why is the BMC spending the money to build car parks, and ignoring the underlying problem that will ultimately undo any positive impact of the car parks? The bottom line is that the underground garages will not solve Mumbai's serious parking problem, unless the Mumbai authorities first put an end to the free-yet-illegal street parking. It seems that they are putting the cart before the horse.
Is the BMC unaware of this problem or are they simply ignoring it? Ashok Datar, founder and chairman of Mumbai Environmental Social Network points out that it is a complicated social issue that the BMC may be avoiding.
"They will have to worry about issues of governance, policing, marking and mass scale fining to people belonging to upper classes – which is not done," Datar notes. He also notes that expensive car park construction projects are appealing to the people who are making money, such as high-priced international consultants. "When more money is to be spent, everybody is happy," Datar says. "I am not insinuating, but I can't find any other answer."
Datar explains that if the BMC would only examine the usage of car park projects built for the Inox Cinemas and Warden Road in Mumbai, they would see proof that the public opts for free street parking over pay parking lots.
"Isn't it tragic that they don't know – or pretend not to know – the current usage of such high-cost projects such as Inox and at Warden Road before pushing for very large investment projects based on the same or similar business model?"
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