G NOIDA TO GET THREE FOOTOVER BRIDGES IN ‘LESS THAN ONE YEAR’

GREATER NOIDA: The Greater Noida authority is planning to build foot over bridges (FOBS) at three locations -- Surajpurkasna road near district magistrate office, Kailash hospital near Pari Chowk intersection and near sector Gamma 2 -- in less than a year’s time to provide safe passage to pedestrians.

The authority has started issued a tender to hire the agency that will build these FOBS under the build-operatetransfer scheme. Under it, the agency will have 10 years to earn revenue to recover the cost, plus earn profit, from advertising on the bridge space and then transfer it to the authority. This way, officials from the authority said, the authority will not have to spend any money on the project.

“If all goes per plan, then the work will start on these three FOBS by September-end and will be open for public in nine months from that day,” said Narendra Bhooshan, chief executive officer (CEO) of the Greater Noida Authority.

The locations where the FOBS are slated to come up are heavy and high-speed traffic zones that pose a risk to pedestrians and people have long been demanding a resolution to this almost daily affair.

“The authority has been promising the foot over bridges at these three points for a long time, but nothing has happened. We hope that now this time the work will not get delayed and general public will not be made to suffer for more time. Pedestrians have to face a lot of risk and trouble in the absence of FOBS,” said Alok Singh, founder member of the Active Citizen team, a social group.

AUTHORITY HAS STARTED ISSUING A TENDER TO HIRE THE AGENCY THAT WILL BUILD THESE FOBS UNDER THE BUILD-OPERATETRANSFER MODEL