Hardeep Singh Puri, Union Minister of state (I/c) for Housing and Urban Affairs has said that the Skywalk and FOB at ITO is among the 5 projects approved for funding of Rs 643.58 crore through the Urban Development Fund by the Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs. The other projects involving construction of flyovers, underpasses etc are coming up at Mahipalpur, Narela, ISBT Kashmiri Gate and Rani Jhansi Road. The project has been mooted for one of the busiest crossings in Delhi. It is an intersection point, with a metro station, the Tilak Bridge railway station and seven major arterial roads. This leads to inter-crossing of pedestrian with the vehicular traffic, posing a potentially dangerous situation to the pedestrians.
Speaking at the Foundation laying ceremony held in New Delhi here today, Shri Puri stated that the Skywalk and Foot Over Bridge(FoB) will provide safe and comfortable passage to a large number of pedestrians, who come to this area. At present, vehicular peak hour traffic volume is around 16,000 to 20,000 PCU on ITO Chowk and 12,000 PCU on ‘W’ Point. Around 29,000 pedestrians cross both the points. The entire cost of Rs 54.34 crore of the project is being funded through Urban Development Fund (Rs 43.47 crore) and by DDA (Rs 10.87 crore). The project is expected to be completed by March, 2018. Ms Meenakshi Lekhi, MP was also present on the occasion.
This project will benefit the public at large who visit these offices along with the employees working in over 25 major offices located in the ITO area i.e. Police HQ, PWD HQ, Institute of Engineers, ICAI, Income Tax office, Central Excise, DDA, School of Planning and Architecture, GST office, Supreme Court, Pragati Maidan, ASI, College of Art and Lady Irwin College etc. A new complex for the Hon’ble Supreme Court is also coming up near the Pragati Maidan Metro Station which will further increase the volume of pedestrian traffic. “Considering the importance and the high visibility of any Skywalk in the area, the design of the Skywalk should be unique, highly functional, aesthetic and should be recognized as one of the Landmarks of Delhi, he stated.
“Having going through the walkthrough and presentations, I am sure that upon completion of the project, not only the pedestrians will be provided with safe passage but the entire area will have a different look, which is definitely going to be a landmark in Delhi”, he further said.Besides, we have recently sanctioned Solid Waste Management project for the three MCDs under which a total of Rs 300 Crore will be spent where each MCD will get Rs 80 crore for implementation of the project through Urban Development Fund and the rest of the contribution from Govt of India. All these projects when completed will definitely go a long way into improving the facilities and quality of life of the people of Delhi. We are also committed to fund similar projects in future also.