The L&T Metro Rail Hyderabad has built the first skywalk connecting the Punjagutta metro station to the newly-built shopping mall-cum-theatre complex so as to enable passengers travelling by the metro to walk into the building from the station, without getting down onto the road.
Municipal Administration Secretary Arvind Kumar inaugurated the skywalk in the presence of Hyderabad Metro Rail managing director N.V.S. Reddy and L&TMRH managing director and chief executive officer K.V.B. Reddy on Wednesday. The skywalk is 26 metres long and three metres wide and is built at a cost of ₹1 crore.
While Mr. Kumar did not speak to the assembled media persons citing election code, Mr. K.V.B. Reddy said many more such skywalks would be constructed in the days to come as discussions were being held with various institutions and commercial complexes. L&TMRH malls at Erramanzil, Punjagutta and HiTec City would be connected with such skywalks, he said.
Mr. N.V.S. Reddy once again reiterated HMR’s commitment to transform the spaces beneath the metro stations, facilitating urban rejuvenation of the capital.
“We have finalised parking contracts for 26 stations and these will ensure that the tax payers’ money spent will be returned to the HMR and the government in six years, after which it will become a regular income. Here, we do things differently,” he affirmed.
Keolis CEO Bernard Tabary said his firm was proud to be running an outstanding project of the HMR. “We have learnt lessons of cost management and safety,” he said.