HYDERABAD: The proposed construction of over 55 modern foot overbridges (FoBs) at busy locations across the twin cities goes for a toss as a majority of the agencies selected for undertaking the works have backed out due to a face-off between the GHMC and preferred bidders and with no solution in sight.
As a consequence, the corporation has decided to call fresh tenders soon.
The reason for backing out of the project by the agencies is that the minister for municipal administration and urban development (MAUD) has called for limited advertising space on two columns and the skywalk of FoB to improve aesthetics and also to give impression to the citizens that FoBs are built for the convenience of pedestrians and not for advertisement revenue.
The minister also approved certain FoB models with limited advertisement space. After his instructions, the GHMC held a meeting with the project consultant, IIDC, and representatives of preferred bidders recently to discuss the designs approved by the minister.
GHMC commissioner B Janardhan Reddy asked the bidders to adopt the approved designs with a hoarding over the two columns of FoB structure and a minimum advertisement over the skywalk.
But the bidders said the capital cost would go up substantially high if the new design was adhered to instead of the model shared with them in the bid document.
They were also of the view that the expected revenue from the permitted advertisement space would be low and they cannot recover the capital cost of infrastructure and also meet the regular maintenance cost.
Mayor Bonthu Rammohan and the commissioner asked the the preferred bidders to discuss the matter with their design teams and come up with new designs which may be feasible to them but a majority of them backed out. Just one or two agencies came forward to build about eight FoBs.
Feasibility study soon
Admitting that there is a requirement of FoBs in city, GHMC officials told Express that they were appointing consultants to study pattern of pedestrian and traffic flow, the feasibility of building FoBs where the road width is narrow, the need for lifts and escalators for special-category people such as senior citizens, persons with limited physical movement and patients