BMC FOB project runs into rough weather, nearly scrapped

The much anticipated Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) project to set up 15 foot overbridges (FOBs) in different parts of the city has run into rough weather and is very nearly scrapped now. As a result, the civic body could incur an estimated loss of Rs 5 crore annually that it would have earned from contracts given out to outdoor firms for advertising on the FOBs.

In 2012, BMC gave out contracts for construction of FOBs on (Design, Build, Operate and Transfer) basis.  S V R Srinivas, Additional Municipal Commissioner, BMC, says “the project was planned without any study. So, we are facing difficulty in giving clear sites to the contractors for putting up the FOBs, and the contractors in turn are facing financial losses. We are thinking of scrapping the whole project.

Since the project was to be developed on DBOT basis, BMC will not incur any upfront losses but would lose all the potential revenues from advertising contracts. The contracts would have been of 15-20 year duration, given to contractors in lieu of designing, building and operating the properties. A senior official from the bridge department of the civic body said that the each of FOBs was meant to be about 60 metre long.