Paucity of funds has compelled Noida authority to scrap its plan to introduce pod taxi in the satellite town. Facing difficulties in raising adequate funds for pod taxi project in the city, the authority is now planning to construct skywalks instead. A detailed presentation for the skywalk project was made on Wednesday and if things go as per the plan, the authority is expected to make announcement in this regard soon. Disclosing this, a senior official of the Noida authority said skywalk would be financially viable and can be constructed in less time.
The authority officials said that after receiving suggestions from various sections, it is being planned to construct skywalk by replacing pod taxi project. He further said the route will be the same as it was proposed for pod taxi service. “In the first phase, a total of 2.6-kilometre stretch from Botanical Garden Metro station to Sector 18 market is likely to be constructed and later it is expected to extend 20-kilometer more in the city and cover all the key areas,” said an official.
The skywalk will connect to malls, cinema halls, markets and educational institutions. The motive behind construction of skywalk is to provide separate routes to the people approaching at various places without using roads, metros and other means of public transport. “Pedestrian will not face traffic congestion or parking hassles and will be able to reach the higher floors of a mall or a building. The stretch can pass the middle of high rise buildings,” said the official.
It may be noted that authority had announced to bring pod taxi in the city. A total of Rs260 crore was planned to spend for the first phase. “However, skywalk project will be 60-70 per cent less than the pod tax project,” the official said.
As authority was trying to raise money from owners of malls, cinema halls, educational institutes and others, a meeting was held. After refusing them to fund money for the project, plans are made to replace it. “We had conducted a meeting of all the stakeholders earlier. However, nobody is ready invest money in the project. Now we are looking for an alternative,” added the official.