MUMBAI: One of Mumbai’s largest green spots possibly the biggest open area of the city will most likely soon be transformed into a theme park in line with the theme of Central Park in New York City in the US as the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s proposal for transforming the existing Mahalaxmi Racecourse received a nod from the members of the Royal Western India Turf Club (RWITC) recently. Following a two-day voting session of the RWITC club members on Tuesday, of the 708 members who cast their votes, 540 voted in support of BMC’s proposal while 168 members voted against it.

The racecourse, which occupies 211 acres in Mahalaxmi and is one of the biggest green open spaces in the financial capital is run by the RWITC, as its parent organization. The land is jointly owned by the BMC and state government and has been leased out to the RWITC since 1914. The last lease agreement had expired in 2013, and for more than a decade now, the lease was not renewed by the authorities, even though the racecourse continued to exist. 

In January this year, however, the civic authorities had proposed that the lease of this land would be renewed only after the major portion of this land parcel nearly 120 acres out of the 211 acres, shall be acquired by the authorities while the remaining 91 acres will stay with the RWITC. The area which could be retained by RWITC includes the stables, race tracks, grandstand and a helipad beside a heritage structure.