Mumbai, Jan 31 (PTI) Portion of Mumbai’s iconic Mahalaxmi Racecourse will be transformed into a theme park with the horse racing club that manages the facility approving a proposal of the civic body which sought part of the land sprawl for the project.
The Royal Western India Turf Club (RWITC) conducted its extraordinary general body meeting on Tuesday, in which the proposal was kept for voting before 1,718 voting members, a top office-bearer said on Wednesday.
“A total of 708 members cast their vote with 540 of them voting in favour of the (civic body’s) proposal (for a theme park), while the remaining 168 voted against it,” RWITC chairman Surendra Sanas told PTI.
Sanas also said the civic body would renew RWITC’s racecourse land lease for the next 30 years, permit them to build a new clubhouse, which will be a new recreation facility for members, and also allow repairing work in their premises.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) had offered to renew the turf club’s land lease which expired in 2013, for 30 years, if the RWITC hands over about 120 acres of the total 211-acre land of the racecourse in its possession.
BMC chief Iqbal Singh Chahal presented a proposal to RWITC members earlier this month.
“In the absence of the lease, we were unable to secure permissions for carrying out repairs (infrastructure), which we will get after the lease agreement,” Sanas said.
The club will get a lease agreement for the last 10 years and thereafter for the next 30 years, he added.
According to Sanas, the municipal commissioner has assured club members that no construction will be carried out “even on the single inch” of the 120-acre land parcel the BMC will take over.
“He (Chahal) has also assured that the racecourse view will not be obstructed,” he added.
Chief Minister Eknath Shinde had said that the proposed theme park will be connected with the green area, being developed by the BMC, of the Coastal Road Project through a subway.
Built in the year 1883, the Mahalaxmi Racecourse is a horse racing track spread over approximately 225 acres of open land facing the sea in the heart of Mumbai city. PTI KK NSK
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