‘High-end’ BKC to finally get affordable food options
The MMRDA is also looking to revive a bicycle sharing scheme thus improving the last mile connectivity in the area, which sees a daily average of nearly half a million visitors
Mumbai: The Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC), which boasts of many high-end restaurants, will finally have a place where people can get affordable food. The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) has begun the process of developing an urban plaza with a food court in the leading business district.
The MMRDA is also looking to revive a bicycle sharing scheme thus improving the last mile connectivity in the area, which sees a daily average of nearly half a million visitors. Recently, Hindustan Times had highlighted various problems faced by the people visiting the BKC — unavailability of affordable food and commuting issues.
According to sources in the MMRDA, the food court will come up in GN-Block. “We are looking at having an affordable yet good quality restaurant and food plaza on plot number C-5 of GN-Block. We have invited tenders for the same which shall be opened in the first week of June,” said an official from the MMRDA.
The GN-Block is known for high-end restaurants and leading corporate offices. On a daily basis, BKC caters for about two to two and a half lakh people coming to offices there and another two lakh visitors, who travel to BKC on work.
The makes the need for affordable food joints in BKC imperative. Also, with the opening of Jio World Centre and Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Art Centre (NMACC), there has been an increase in the number of events in the area, which has led to an increase in the footfall beyond the office hours.
The shared bicycle scheme is to connect offices within BKC. “We are once again looking for operators to run the Public Bicycle Scheme inside BKC that shall connect the main road to the commercial offices and MNCs in the arterial lanes. This will partly solve the issue of last mile connectivity,” said another official from the MMRDA.
BKC has 30 kilometers of cycle tracks. However, over the years, these have been taken over by auto rickshaws and other four wheelers, who use the segregated bicycle lanes to park their vehicles. The bollards dividing these bicycle lanes have been uprooted.
The BEST ferries 74,000 passengers on a daily average in their buses at BKC. This was around 42,000 in 2018 and 48,000 in 2019. The BEST officials said that they operate around 13 different bus routes between BKC, Kurla and Bandra stations.
This leaves people at the mercy of share auto drivers operating from both Bandra and Kurla railway stations. These share auto rickshaw drivers are often unruly, overcharge and do not follow traffic rules.
