A bit of Dubai coming up at BKC

MUMBAI: Inspired by Dubai’s Media City, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority wants to create a major media hub in Mumbai. To this end, it has allotted a plot of land in the Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) to the Indian Newspaper Society (INS).

The proposed media city will offer office space to the country’s 700 media houses. As the INS is a public trust, the MMRDA has offered the land at a reduced rate usually offered to central and state government projects.

The going rate at the BKC is Rs10,000 per square foot, but the INS gets this prime property at a rate of Rs4,200 psf. This means the project will cost approximately Rs88 crore.

“Over 2,00,000 sq ft area can be used by media houses for their corporate offices,” T Chandrasekhar, additional metropolitan commissioner, MMRDA, said. “The idea is to make BKC the centre of all media business activities, except for printing presses.”

Supporting the media city would be the proposed International Convention and Exhibition Centre, for which bids are expected to be invited next week. This centre would house multiplexes, three five-star hotels, and malls.

“We will soon be inviting bids for the elevated Bandra-Kurla-Mankhurd rail link. Thus, connectivity to BKC will be complete,” Chandrasekhar said.

Fighting back the post-July 26 criticism of water-logging in the BKC owing to bad planning and rampant reclamation, the MMRDA is now pushing the area as the city’s best central business district. The focus is on improved road connectivity from Dahisar, Mulund, and South Mumbai, ample parking and open spaces.