Junctions hit a roadblock

BANGALORE: The memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) and Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association in India (CREDAI) on improving road junctions might not be a reality. The CREDAI is likely to withdraw from the proposed project.A couple of months ago, the BBMP had announced that around 48 junctions in the city would be handed over to the CREDAI for maintenance for a period of five years. The BBMP had identified 175 such junctions in the city. Sources from the BBMP said that some of the interested developers like Mantri, Purvankara, Adarsh, Brigade and Sobha were asked to send in designs to the BBMP for their proposed plans for the junctions. The improvement of junction includes re-designing, placing ornamental curb stones on the footpath, barricading the footpath, installing pelican lights, painting of zebra crossings and the likes.For research purpose, the BBMP had even visited the Mumbai-Kurla highway where such junctions are maintained by developers.“We had told those developers that their logo should not consume a lot of space. All they could do is just mention their company name. The developers agreed,” a BBMP official said.But now, all is not well with the BBMP and the CREDAI.Sources say that Sushil Mantri who is the President of CREDAI, Karnataka chapter, is not happy with the BBMP. “After the BBMP demolished Mantri Square’s ramp, the gap widened between the two, and that is making the CREDAI step back,” the official said.The senior official from the BBMP said after they got to know that the CREDAI is stepping out, they are now exploring the possibility of roping in corporate companies.“We will now approach IT companies like Infosys, Wipro, TCS, Accenture and more to maintain these road junctions. We will tell them to adopt a road. However, it is in the initial stage,” the official added.The BBMP is also planning to construct more skywalks in the city. “We need at least 30 skywalks. We will approach private players including IT companies to construct skywalks on a Built Own Operate Transfer basis,” the official said.