The lives of pedestrians in the city will continue to be at grave risk.
Representational image
Bengaluru: The lives of pedestrians in the city will continue to be at grave risk as the Bengaluru Development Authority’s plan to provide skywalks for pedestrians on Public Private Partnership (PPP) has received a poor response from contractors, reportedly due to strict norms and high costs. The BDA had floated tenders for construction of 25 skywalks along the Outer Ring Road (ORR), which has more or less achieved seamless traffic. Since vehicles move at high speed, there has been a dire need for skywalks and tenders were floated for the same, said sources.
The pedestrian safety index shows that constructing skywalk and pedestrians subways are need of the hour. The BDA may not be able to meet its deadline of March 2016 to throw open all the 25 skywalks to public, said sources. Strict norms, increased cost of construction and limited scope for display of advertisements have deterred contractors. Now, the BDA is planning to revise or modify the tender clauses, they added.
The BDA authorities took the initiative and build two skywalks - at Babusabpalya junction and Kammanahalli junction - to showcase as the model for contractors. As most pedestrians were reluctant to climb the stairs, the BDA had made it mandatory that skywalks have escalators with dedicated power supply. The BDA authorities opine that escalators would encourage people to use skywalks.
Following the death of two pedestrians at Kempapura junction last year, there was a huge demand from public for construction of pedestrian skywalks or underpasses. Unfortunately, the work at Kempapura underpass is moving at a snail’s pace, while pedestrians continue to cross the road at grave risk, sources added. Currently two skywalks are being built by Embassy group, as part of Corporate Social Responsibility activity. The foundation stone has been laid near Manyata Tech Park near Nagarvara and near Devarabeesanahalli.
If contractors show reluctance to take up skywalk projects, the BDA itself would have to take it up, keeping pedestrian safety in mind. The contractors feel that providing escalator with power back-up will steeply increase the construction cost. In addition, at least two security guards will have to be appointed to ensure that the skywalks are not misused. Moreover, the contractors did not get advertisement rights from the BBMP as they had desired, sources said.
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( Source : deccan chronicle )
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