Corpn plans FOBs at 9 locations near malls, institutions

According to a Chennai Corporation official, new foot overbridges would come up on Purasaiwalkam High Road near Abirami Mega Mall, Perambur railway station, Harrington Road near MCC Schools, Arcot Road near Vijaya Forum Mall, Anna Nagar Second Avenue near Iyappan Temple, Anna Nagar Third Avenue near Kandasamy College, Luz Church Road near Luz Corner, LB Road near Adyar bus depot and Sardar Patel Road near Anna University.

“We will appoint consultants to prepare detailed project reports (DPR) for the proposed foot overbridges. The consultant would analyse vehicle and pedestrian movement at the proposed locations and suggest us the cost of the project and overall length of the bridges apart from land acquisition patterns,” he said.

It is also learnt that the civic body would construct the foot overbridges under public-private partnership on design, build, finance, operate and transfer (DBFOT) mode.

“Foot overbridges in cities like Bengaluru and Hyderabad were constructed under a public-private partnership, in which the builder can earn revenue by advertising on the foot overbridges,” the official added.

When asked the rationale behind shortlisting nine locations, the official explained that the selected locations witness a large number of pedestrian footfall and the jaywalking on the road hinders vehicle movement causing traffic snarls. As three of the proposed foot over bridges connect educational institutions, the students would be benefited from the bridges, the official said.

Meanwhile, the civic body has already floated tender to construct a foot overbridge in Nungambakkam connecting Nungambakkam railway station and Nelson Manickam Road. Also, a skywalk connecting T Nagar railway station and T Nagar bus stand in anvil under Smart City Mission.

Presently, the civic body maintains five foot overbridges across the city apart from 40 foot bridges across various canals. There are also five pedestrian subways maintained by the civic body.