A GROUP OF 102 prominent architects and urban planners from Mumbai has written to the Municipal Commissioner of the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai and Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, raising objections to proposed underground construction at the Mahalaxmi Racecourse and calling for full public disclosure of plans for the Central Park project.
Issued under the banner of the Mumbai Architects Collective, the letter responds to the state government’s proposal to create a 295-acre urban park by combining 125 acres of the racecourse with 170 acres of land reclaimed under the Coastal Road project. The government has described the development as the largest urban park in the country.
The plan envisages transforming the South Mumbai racecourse into a vast public green space titled Mumbai Central Park. A contiguous open expanse of nearly 300 acres would be formed by linking the racecourse grounds with reclaimed coastal land.
According to official presentations, the park’s surface will remain predominantly green, featuring walking trails and landscaped zones, while the historic racetrack and stables are set to be retained.
Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has termed the proposal a “300-acre oxygen park”, calling it the “biggest gift to Mumbaikars” and stating that the racecourse, once accessible to a limited few, would now belong fully to the city.
However, a central element of the proposal is a 10 lakh sq ft underground sports complex beneath the park. The facility is planned to meet international standards and include infrastructure for aquatic sports, boxing, basketball, gymnastics, skating and indigenous disciplines such as kabaddi and kho kho.
The blueprint also features a 1.2-kilometre underground tunnel linking the park to the Coastal Road and the Metro Line 3 Nehru Science Centre station, along with subterranean parking aimed at easing traffic congestion. Other proposed components include a city forest, botanical gardens, concert lawns and cultural event spaces.
The racecourse land is partly leased by the Royal Western India Turf Club to the civic body, and recent cabinet decisions have paved the way for expanding public access.
While expressing support for greater accessibility, the architects have objected to the scale of the proposed underground works. In their letter, they stated that although enhanced public access is welcome, the plans appear to go far beyond that objective, with insufficient clarity on their long-term implications. They emphasised that the racecourse is already public land long used by citizens for recreation and exercise, arguing that improved access does not necessitate excavation or the construction of underground complexes.
The signatories highlighted Mumbai’s acute shortage of open spaces and stressed the ecological significance of the racecourse, particularly its role in rainwater absorption in a flood-prone coastal city. They warned that extensive basement construction could permanently impair the ground’s natural drainage capacity for infrastructure they described as neither essential nor environmentally sound.
The group has also urged the government to reconsider plans for underground parking beneath public grounds and questioned how funding is being prioritised for subterranean development when the civic body has previously cited financial constraints in maintaining other open spaces across the city.
