Dilsukhnagar Skywalk Awaits Finishing Touches for 14 Months

Hyderabad: The development of pedestrian-friendly infrastructure in the city, including foot over bridges (FoBs) and the Mehdipatnam skywalk, is progressing at a slow pace.

In 2020, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) initially proposed 37 FoBs, but this number was later reduced to 22 due to feasibility concerns. Out of the 22 projects, only 12 have been completed so far, while 10 are still incomplete..

Some FoBs such as those in Banjara Hills and Dilsukhnagar are nearly 90 per cent complete but remain non-operational. At Dilsukhnagar, most of the work was finished 14 months ago, but further progress has stalled. GHMC officials have cited various reasons for the delays, with responsibility assigned to different engineers.

"The Banjara Hills FoB will be operational within a month. The contractor faced health issues, which caused the delay," said a GHMC official. "I issued a strict warning and set a one-month deadline," he added.

Similarly, work on the 390-metre-long Mehdipatnam skywalk, which will feature 11 elevators, was halted for months. Construction resumed recently after the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) paid `17 crore to acquire about half an acre of defence land near the site. Although the Union government approved the land acquisition in January, fulfilling the defence ministry's conditions delayed the project until October.

"The land acquisition issue was politicised by the BRS during the previous government, but the final paperwork was completed this September, and the payment was made," said a source. “It was Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy’s efforts with the defence ministry that finally got the project moving," he added.

A senior HMDA engineer stated that the skywalk would be completed by December this year, with work currently taking place only at night.