Mumbai: Although some skywalks in Mumbai turned to white elephants, and many were dismantled when they became dilapidated, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) would soon build a skywalk at Kurla West worth Rs 20 Crore.
BMC has proposed to build a skywalk from the Taximen Colony to Shrikrishna Chowk and officials say that Skywalk will provide assistance to pedestrians in the area.
BMC administration has placed the Skywalk proposal before the Standing Civic Committee.
According to officials, local elected representatives have demanded that because there are many traffic jams in the area, there is no place for pedestrians to walk and become skywalk must be built.
“The proposed skywalk will be 300 meters long and will be wide 4.25 metro.
It will be built using reinforced cement concrete (RCC) and steel.
There will be two escalators also for people so they don’t have to climb the stairs.
We will spend Around Rs 50 Lakh to remove the underground utility that will be affected while building a skywalk.
It will take around 15 months for the skywalk that must be resolved, “said a citizenship official.
BMC also said that it has appointed consultants spending around RS 28 Lakh.
“The consultant was taken to design and plan a skywalk and suggest technical details,” the official said.
BMC, who faced Cash Crunch recently decided to hold the first Skywalk reconstruction in Bandra (Timur) which was closed in 2019.
Skywalk was declared unsafe for pedestrians.
BMC plans to rebuild one Skywalk arm but placing a plan on holding financial constraints.
The first skywalk inaugurated in Mumbai was a 1.3 kilometer Skywalk in Bandra (Timur) in June 2008.
The price of Rs 13 Crore.
Over the years, MMRDA has built 23 skywalk in Mumbai.
MMRDA officials said that the agency had spent around Rs 700 Crore on building Skywalk and annual maintenance around Rs 2.5 Crore.
Then all the skywalks are then handed over to BMC for maintenance and maintenance.
Immediately after Skywalk Bandra (East) was closed, BMC initiated a safety audit of 24 skywalk in the city.
Experts from Veermata Jijabai Technology Institute (VJTI) were asked to study Skywalk to ensure they structurally suitable for use.
In 2019, BMC also closed Skywalk in Dahisar (West) because it was reported not safe to use.
In March 2019 this year, after seven people were killed in the collapse of the Himalayan FOB near CST, MMDRA had written to BMC, which suggested a structural audit of the skywalk carried out.
BMC has ordered a re-audit of all 296 FOBs and Road Overbridges (Road) in Mumbai after the collapse of the Himalayan FOB.