23 of 25 skywalks planned by BDA still up in the air

No firm has bid for BDA’s tenders for skywalks on Outer Ring Road, through PPP. BDA wanted the firms to pay over Rs 99 Lakhs per skywalk for 20 years, in addition to building and maintaining it. Now what?

The BDA tender makes it mandatory to leave some space to make the skywalk path visible from beneath the road. Pic: Shree D N

The Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) wants to improve pedestrian experience on Outer Ring Road by building 25 skywalks. However, the plan has hit a deadlock, after there were no bids or expressions of interest put up by anyone for the tender to construct 23 of these.

Jayashankar Reddy, Executive engineer, BDA, told Citizen Matters that no applications were made for the tenders the BDA had called for, to construct pedestrian these pedestrian skywalks. The BDA plans to call for tenders again, after revising the tender to relax some conditions to make it more attractive to the investors, said Reddy.

P N Nayak, Engineer Member, BDA, confirmed that 23 of the 25 skywalks received no bids, while the two that did—at Kammanahalli and Babusabpalya— are presently under construction.  

Early this year, in the month of January, the BDA had called for tenders to construct pedestrian skywalks, complete with escalators, at the following 25 locations:

Sl. No

Area

1

Manyata Tech park

2

Ecospace business park

3

Kadubeesanahalli New Horizon Collage On ORR

4

Marathahalli Innovative Multiplex on ORR

5

Marathahalli (Kalamandir) On ORR

6

HSR Layout (Swati Restaurant) On ORR

7

Kadubeesanahalli New Horizon Collage On ORR

8

HSR Layout (Swati Restaurant) On ORR

9

Ibbalur junction on ORR

10

Nagarabhavi 1st stage ITI Layout on ORR

11

Kammanahalli

12

Babusabpalya

13

K R Puram (near Shanty)

14

Rammurthynagar

15

Kasturinagara

16

Devinagar Cross

17

Yogeshnagar Cross near Hebbal

18

Lunmini Garden

19

HBR layout (near Ambedkar grounds)

20

Banaswadi underbridge

21

Vijaya Bank colony

22

Central Silk Board Bus Stand

23

BEL underbridge

24

Nagarbhavi Village

25

Sumanahalli

BDA had quoted Rs 99,20,000/- as the minimum amount the party undertaking the project has to pay over the span of twenty years to the BDA. The bidder quoting the highest price over this minimum, after meeting the eligibility criteria and making a proposal satisfactory to BDA, was to be awarded the contract.

Apart from paying this sum to BDA, the successful bidder was also expected to bear the expenses involved in construction of the structure and its maintenance for the next twenty years.

In return, the successful bidder will be granted advertising rights on the skywalk. At the end of the first twenty years, the skywalk, along with all the responsibilities and rights—including those on advertisements—will be transferred to the BDA free of any charge and free from all encumbrances.   

The total expenditure on the project borne by the successful bidder over these twenty years deducted from the total revenue generated by advertising on the skywalk was to be the profit made out of the venture.

However, there have been no interested parties in the venture. Hence the BDA is planning to call for tenders yet again, after considering making concessions or relaxation of conditions that might attract bidders.

The project was in fact announced in the last state budget tabled in February 2015, as a public-private partnership project. Reddy informed Citizen Matters that no money has been allocated for this project.

Related Articles

These are the 54 skywalks coming up in Bengaluru
Can skywalks be made convenient and safe?
Sarjapur Road: No entry for pedestrians!
It’s all dust, smoke and bad roads for pedestrians, while flyover takes shape

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Similar Story

Aarey colony has not been taken seriously by any government: Incumbent MP Gajanan Kirtikar

Gajanan Kirtikar, who joined hands with Eknath Shinde, says that SRA schemes should be allowed for Aarey residents to save the forest.

As India gets ready to vote to decide who will represent them in Parliament, Citizen Matters is speaking to elected Parliamentary representatives from Mumbai. We will ask them about the work they have done for the city, policies they have supported and why Mumbaikars should cast votes in their favour (or of their political parties). As part of this series, we spoke to Gajanan Kirtikar, who represented Mumbai North West for the past two terms. He is an active Parliamentarian who was one of top 10 MPs who asked the maximum number of questions during their tenure, according to a report…

Similar Story

Lok Sabha 2024: Know your MP — Gajanan Kirtikar, Mumbai North West

After long innings in politics, Gajanan Kirtikar faces the challenge of his son staying with Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena in 2024 elections.

Name: Gajanan Kirtikar  Constituency: Mumbai North West Gajanan Kirtikar, 80 is an old hand in Maharashtra politics and has risen up the ranks of his party. He has always been with the Shiv Sena, having been part of the core team of Bal Thackeray, subsequently working under Uddhav Thackeray. He chose to move to the Shiv Sena faction led by present chief minister Eknath Shinde.  He served as a legislator for four terms between 1990 to 2009 and then entered the Parliament for two terms from 2014. He also served as the minister of state for home and tourism and…