The Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (MMRDA) is likely to save about Rs 200 crore in the skywalks' project due to the prevailing recession, an official said.
The Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (MMRDA) is likely to save about Rs 200 crore in the skywalks' project due to the prevailing recession, an official said.
"Due to the global meltdown, the prices of steel, a major component used to construct skywalks, has fell down by at least 50 per cent.
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Hence the cost of the entire project has come down by Rs 200 to Rs 300 crore," Dilip Kawathkar, Joint Project Director of MMRDA said.
In an attempt to ensure a better walking experience for pedestrians outside the congested railway stations, the MMRDA had in January last year proposed to construct 50 skywalks across the city. Of these 20 will be built by Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) and the rest will be built by the MMRDA.
The MMRDA made a budgetary allocation of Rs 600 crore for the skywalks' project. It has also proposed to have shopping plaza on some of the skywalks.
"Steel prices reached to Rs 24,000 per tonne from September's heady highs of around Rs 48,000 per tonne.
This has reduced the burden on our budget," said Kawathkar. On August 21 last year, the agency had inaugurated it's first skywalk connecting Bandra Railway station to Kalanagar passing along the Anant Kanekar Marg in Western Suburbs.
About 800-850 tonnes of steel was used to construct the Bandra skywalk. The total cost of the skywalk, which is being used by at least 75,000 pedestrians, was Rs 13.63 crore.
"The work on 40 skywalks has already begun. This includes skywalk at Kanjurmarg, Bandra(West), Vasai, Virar railway stations in suburban Mumbai," Kawathkar added. The skywalks to be built in the city will have lengths between 500 and 2,000 metres.
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