WADALA: MUMBAI'S NEXT CBD?

WADALA: MUMBAI'S NEXT CBD?

The MMRDA is looking at new avenues for creating business hubs in Mumbai so as to implement the walk-to-work concept in the city. VIBHA SINGH takes a closer look at Wadala and analyses its potential to become a CBD

    Acity centre is often viewed as the core of a city’s economy, a place where people meet to exchange not only goods and services but also ideas. The traditional role of a city centre has been somewhat eroded in recent years; while cities have seen strong growth in private sector jobs overall, their centres have actually lost out on this business. In current real estate parlance, the Central Business District (CBD) has become a diverse region of the metropolitan area and includes residential, retail, commercial, universities, entertainment, government, financial institutions, medical centres and culture.
    Ravi Ahuja, executive director, Cushman & Wakefield, says, "A city centre is a part of the CBD only. In recent decades, the combination of gentrification (residential expansion) and development of shopping malls as entertainment centres, have given the CBD a new life. One can now find, in addition to housing, megamalls, theatres, museums and stadiums."
    Earlier, Colaba and Nariman Point were the only city centres in Mumbai and were called as CBDs but gradually the focus shifted to Bandra-Kurla Complex. Dilip Kawathkar, joint-project director, the Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (MMRDA), explains, "In reality, there are several business districts in Mumbai which are larger (both, in terms of office space and number of jobs), such as Nariman Point, Ballard Estate, Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) and Andheri. With the two business districts of the city reaching saturation point, the MMRDA has planned to acquire 1.84 crore sq m of land to set up alternative business hubs, build new rental housing projects and other facilities."
    The dwindling land resources of BKC have forced the MMRDA to look at new avenues for creating business hubs in the city and they have found Wadala to be the most potential substitute. This will attract more investors and buyers. "We want to bring the walk-to-work concept in India and Wadala can become an ideal destination for its better implementation, as it will have better connectivity to other areas thanks to the monorail, the Eastern Freeway and the MTHL Bridge," sources in the MMRDA inform. It would take over five years for Wadala to become a fullfledged commercial hub, they add.
    Kawathkar says, "There are no boundaries to the CBD. The CBD is essentially about perception. It is usually the ‘postcard image’ one has of a particular city. There have been various attempts at delineating the boundaries of the CBD but for the major part, one can visually or instinctively know when the CBD starts and ends, as it is the core and contains a plethora of tall buildings, high density, a lack of parking, transportation nodes, a large number of pedestrians on the street and generally, just a lot of activity during the daytime. The bottom line is that the CBD is what people think of a city, when they think of its downtown area."
    Four global consultancy firms and eight Indian companies have shown interest in the project to transform Wadala into an international finance and business centre. These include, global giant Sasaki Associates, which helped design the Olympic village in Beijing and New York-based Parsons Brinckerhoof, along with Indian companies such as PG Patki Architects and AECOM India.
    "We have made the master plan which will help us develop the area better. Also, we have taken into consideration factories like RCF and others also; this will give an opportunity for people to live and work here," said a senior MMRDA official. The need for creating alternate growth centres is necessary as commercial centres such as BKC are running out of land. There are only 20 hectares of land left in BKC that can be commercially exploited.
    Planning experts warn that without an early investment in good public transport, the government's vision for the CBD will fail. Abhisheck Lodha, managing director, Lodha Group, states, "We believe that the eastern suburb is the New Cuffe Parade and now, the MMRDA plans to transform Wadala into Mumbai's newest business hub."
    According to Jitendra Gupta, civic activist, "The answer to increasing economic activity in city centres however, must not be to limit out-of-town growth - such an approach is likely to limit overall job creation in any city. Instead, changes should be made to city centres to make them a more profitable place for businesses to locate. Lack of parking space is a common gripe but public transport, road access and quality of office space, are all factors that must be improved to make city centres a popular choice for today's businesses."
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BYTES THE WALK-TOWORK CONCEPT IS MUCH NEEDED IN INDIA AND WADALA CAN BECOME AN IDEAL DESTINATION FOR ITS BETTER IMPLEMENTATION, AS IT WILL HAVE BETTER CONNECTIVITY TO OTHER PLACES DUE TO THE MONORAIL, THE EASTERN FREEWAY AND THE MTHL BRIDGE.
WITH THE TWO BUSINESS DISTRICTS OF THE CITY REACHING SATURATION POINT, THE MMRDA HAS PLANNED TO ACQUIRE 1.84 CRORE SQ M OF LAND TO SET UP ALTERNATIVE BUSINESS HUBS, BUILD NEW RENTAL HOUSING PROJECTS AND OTHER FACILITIES.

THE RECENTLY INAUGURATED EASTERN FREEWAY FROM ORANGE GATE TO BHAKTI PARK IN WADALA IS EXPECTED TO BOOST CONNECTIVITY TO THE AREA