After Altamount Road, BEST to monetise Walkeshwar plot, BMC initiates amendment in land reservation

BEST plans to monetize a prime land parcel at Walkeshwar by reclassifying it for residential use, aiming to raise funds amid financial losses.

MUMBAI: After Altamount Road, the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport Undertaking (BEST) plans to monetise another prime land parcel, this one at Walkeshwar. As one of the initial steps towards this, BEST’s parent body, the BMC, is in the process of amending the reservation of the plot for optimum financial gains.

After Altamount Road, BEST to monetise Walkeshwar plot, BMC initiates amendment in land reservation

“The proposal to reclassify the land at Malabar Hill, Nos 1B/669, from its current designation (for electrical and bus facilities) to a residential zone has been formally requested by the General Manager of the BEST Undertaking through a letter dated 05.12.2025 addressed to the Municipal Commissioner,” reads a public notice published by the BMC a day after the model code of conduct for the civic elections came into force.

The notice adds that the order to convert the reservation of the plot to residential came from the state’s urban development department last month. “In accordance with the directives from the Department of Urban Development...the General Manager of BEST submitted (the letter to the BMC) on December 5, 2025...” says the notice.

The 2,475.07-square-metre plot between Teen Batti and Banganga currently has an electricity transmission and distribution substation, a BEST bus depot and a multi-storied staff quarter. The senior officials of BEST’s transport and electric wings reside here in spacious 2BHKs overlooking the Queen’s Necklace.

BEST officials said that the Undertaking was aiming to raise at least a couple of hundred crores by leasing out the plot. The cash-strapped utility plans to cut down its cumulative losses of over ₹9,500 crore by leasing land at all its 27 bus depots. However, these plans, which it made public last year, have been vehemently opposed by civil society groups and activists.

In August, Hindustan Times had reported BEST’s putting out its staff quarters at Altamount Road on a 30-year lease, extendable for another three decades, with a clause that even allowed the lessee to redevelop the property. The base price was kept at ₹263 crore.

BEST Sources had told Hindustan Times that the C wing of the Altamount Road staff quarters had been taken over by Sikka Ports and Terminals Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Reliance Industries. Reliance Industries chairman and MD Mukesh Ambani’s residence, Antilia, shares a boundary wall with the BEST property.