Five pedestrian subways yet to take off due to lack of bidders
CHENNAI:
The signal momentarily turned red, on a pleasant Friday morning, and
pedestrians standing opposite the New Life AG Church (near Little Mount)
quickly seized the opportunity to cross the vehicle-choked Anna Salai.
But they might have been spared the waiting time if only the proposed
pedestrian subway, sanctioned about four years back, had come up.
Similarly, the ones proposed at MKN Road-GST Road junction in Guindy and
near New Life AG Church has been deemed as not feasible. “We are now
looking into the possibility of converting them to foot overbridges,”
the official said.
The
State Highways Department had planned five pedestrian subways in the
city, including the aforementioned one but they are yet to take off.
Several attempts to find bidders for the projects have failed, forcing
department officials to rework the original design.
All
of them figure under the Chennai Metropolitan Development Plan, which
utilises State budgetary allocation to build infrastructure in Chennai
metropolitan area as per the second master plan of Chennai Metropolitan
Development Authority for the years 2010-2026. Officials say the State
government had accorded administrative sanction at a cost of `19 crore
for the subways. The project was to be implemented in 2013-2014 but so
far not even a stone has been broken.
When
asked about the status, a highway official told Express: “For the
pedestrian subways at Ekkaduthangal and near Kasi Theatre, we had
floated tenders six times. But no party has expressed interest citing
difficulties in shifting underground utilities.”
Since
the Chennai metro corridor passes through that route, Highways
Department has now requested CMRL officials for undertaking a joint
inspection to identify new locations for the pedestrian subways.
At the MKN
Road-GST Road junction, a link for pedestrians to cross over to either
side is essential. At present, there is one subway, packed during peak
hours, which connects Guindy Railway station with Guindy Industrial
Estate.
As far as the fifth delayed
subway, slated to come up near CMBT, the official said: “We can finalise
its design only after the completion of the grade separator, for which
work is underway there. However, a pedestrian subway has been included
as part of the grade separator project.”
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