Days after the residents had petitioned the Deputy Chief Minister to sanction a skywalk in front of Mantri Sarovar apartments on Outer Ring Road, it is now known that the BBMP had already called for short-term tenders for 39 skywalks across the city. And it includes the one that the residents demanded in Sector 4. The proposed skywalks will be on a ‘design, build, finance, operate and transfer’ (DBFOT) basis for a concession period of 30 years.
Interestingly, when the residents raised this issue in front of the Deputy CM, both the local corporator and MLA were unaware of the BBMP tender announcement in the papers two months ago. This goes to show the extent of cluelessness that our elected representatives possess.
In any case, it’s a good thing that the long-awaited skywalk will soon come up in the area, complete with escalators and staircases. The idea was abandoned with the announcement of the Metro. However, now that the Metro is going to take many more years, the skywalk has been sanctioned. In addition, there are ways to let both the skywalk and the upcoming Metro co-exist. It’s just the height and alignment of the metro and skywalk.
Now the residents want to know when the skywalk in Sector 5 will come up. This is the planned one at the end of the BDA flyover on Outer Ring Road. The project hit a hump when IMA scam surfaced as they were the primary sponsors of the skywalk.
