Hyderabad: The GHMC has refused to spend about Rs 25 crore, which is about 0.02 per cent of the property tax it collects, to construct 50 footbridges in the city.
The then special commissioner Somesh Kumar had approved 50 footbridges each costing between Rs 50 lakh and Rs 70 lakh. The elected council later decided not to spend GHMC money but build them them in the private-public partnership mode. This has received zero response from private agencies.
Meanwhile dismantling of five footbridges at Begumpet, St Ann’s (Secunderabad), Ameerpet, Khairatabad and Dilsukhnagar to facilitate the Hyderabad Metro Rail has put pedestrians to inconvenience. The roads carry more than 35,000 vehicles per hour. There are no pedestrian crossing or speed-breakers. Pedestrians can only cross at traffic signals.
A senior officer from the engineering department said Mr Somesh Kumar had approved FOBs at Mahaveer Hospital, Koti Hospital, Care Hospital, Banjara Hills, Zoo and Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan and Jubilee Hills Road No. 45, and had approved Rs 5.97 crore for construction.
“The tender process was pending. With the GHMC election code in force, no projects were being executed. The new council later decided that the projects would be taken up on a PPP mode, which means those who win the bid will construct and maintain them for a few years and later hand them over to GHMC,” he said.
Referring to the protests by students of Muffakam Jah College, he said tenders were called on a PPP mode. “We are calling for tenders again,” he said.
Foot overbridges have been sanctioned at Greenlands Guest House, Greenlands Road, Banjara Hills, Sarojini Devi Eye Hospital, Mehdipatnam and Near Tipu Khan Bridge at Langer Houz.
Mr S. Adhishankar, member of Roadkraft, a body associated with GHMC on road safety issues, said, “FOBs are needed at junctions where the speed of the traffic is high and at passenger zones like railway station, institutions, market and more. If not FOBs, at least pedestrian walkways are a must.”
