Bringing an end to a 16-year-old wait, the State capital has finally got its first foot overbridge (FOB) in front of the Government Higher Secondary School for Girls, Cotton Hill.
Tourism Minister Kadakampally Surendran formally threw the facility open to the public and the students of the school on Friday.
Besides ensuring the safety of the children studying at the school, the FOB will enable several pedestrians in negotiating the heavy traffic in the area. Currently, many of the students, numbering over 4,000, were being assisted by three or four police personnel in crossing the busy road during peak hours.
The FOB is replete with safety features including hand rails and CCTV cameras. Besides, a vertical garden facing the road, paintings, LED lighting, aluminium composite panel-covered pillars and roof with polycarbonate sheet are its other aspects. In addition to the access point from near the main entrance of the school, an exclusive staircase from the school that led to the FOB is yet another highlight. The arrangement will enable students of the Cotton Hill school to directly enter or exit the premises without having to pass through the main entrance.
The project has been executed under a public-private partnership between the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation and Sun Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd., wherein the latter bore its expenses and will undertake maintenance. In turn, the facility will benefit through revenue generated through its advertisement space. Mayor V.K. Prasanth, who inaugurated a function held in connection to mark the occasion, said that the city Corporation was heading for a major development phase with the launch of 12 projects that are been planned to be taken up under the Smart City project.
Deputy Mayor Rakhi Ravikumar presided over the function. V.S. Sivakumar, MLA, delivered the keynote address.