The parking requirement for Mumbai’s hotels and restaurants has just been doubled by the city’s administration. The requirement was for one standard parking space per 1,200 sq. ft which is now down to 600 sq. ft.
“It puts a lot of pressure on us. We will have to review Rule 33(4) of the Development Control Rules of Mumbai to understand the implications,” said MA Sarela, administration and liaison manager of the HRAWI.
This has taken the city’s hoteliers by surprise as they were assured of a status quo by TC Benjamin, principal secretary to the Maharashtra’s Urban Development Department. “There was pressure to increase the parking space, but Benjamin assured us that hotels would not be included. Something must have happened at the ministerial level for this to have happened,” said Kamlesh Barot, hon. secretary, HRAWI.
The association is planning to reiterate its earlier argument that parking space calculations should not be made on the entire FSI, but on actual requirement i.e. 30-40% which more or less is the non-room guest area.
“Room guests rarely arrive in their own cars and do not need parking space. We are asking for a calculation on the space actually used by local guests who need parking so that older, city hotels are not unnecessarily affected,” said Sarela.
Pune hotels, where such as rule is already in force, are being pressurised by the city’s police department who are threatening to hold up licences for non-compliance.
