The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has decided to transform the empty land of Mankhurd and Dahisar Octroi Nakas into a bus depot and commercial & financial hubs. As per BMC's plan, all long-distance buses will halt at these Octroi Nakas. It will soon send out an invitation for tenders as well.
With this transformation, the civic body plans to prevent traffic congestion in the city and also generate employment.
On these empty lands at Octroi Nakas, places will be allotted to long-distance buses, with amenities like charging and CNG stations, parking, restaurants, inquiry counters, and ticket booking counters. The transportation hub will be built to enable last-mile connections through the BEST trains, buses, metro, and other public and private transportation options.
The civic body is also thinking about providing reasonably priced transit accommodations for tourists and will allocate space for working men's and women's hostel dormitories.
An official from BMC said that they are planning to develop a self-sustainable development that also generates revenue for the civic body. This will be a smart complex with the availability of all modern amenities in one spot.
BMC aims to generate revenue by transforming these Octroi Nakas into commercial and transportation hubs. Dahisar falls in the northern part of the city. Hence, in Dahisar, buses mainly come from Gujarat, Rajasthan, and Delhi. On the other hand, at Mankhurd Naka, buses come from Goa and Pune.
Sharing details about tender invitations, an official from BMC said that they are planning to invite tenders, and the project cost is estimated at around INR 1500 crore. BMC will invite tenders in the next two months.
In Mumbai, the octroi duties were initially removed in 2013 and replaced with a new tax known as the Local Body Tax. In Maharashtra, along with Mumbai, Thane, Navi Mumbai, Nagpur, Pune, and Pimpri-Chinchwad municipal corporations, the Octroi Tax was replaced with the Local Body Tax (LBT). But when the Local Body Tax dropped, the state reinstated the Octroi fee.
The city was home to five Octroi nakas: two in Mulund, one each at Mankhurd, Dahisar, and Airoli. Through these nakas, the BMC used to levy an Octroi tax, a fee on cars coming into or going out of the city. Following the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in 2017 across India, this tax was eliminated.
These nakas have remained empty ever since. In order to make money, the BMC made the decision to transform it into a transport and business hub. Dahisar Octroi Naka and Mankhurd Octroi Naka have 18,869 and 29,774 square metres of land, respectively.
In July 2023, the civic body sought suggestions from hoteliers, auditoriums, and convention centre operators towards making this project operational.
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