The Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (MMRDA) is likely to save about Rs 200 crore due to the prevailing recession in the skywalks' project to come up outside the congested railway stations.
"Due to the global meltdown, prices of steel, a major component used to construct skywalks, has come down by at least 50%. Hence the cost of the entire project has come down by Rs 200-300 crore," Dilip Kawathkar, Joint Project Director of MMRDA said.
The MMRDA made a budgetary allocation of Rs 600 crore for the construction of 50 skywalks proposed under the project.
"Steel prices plummeted to Rs 24,000 per tonne from September's heady highs of around Rs 48,000 per tonne. This has reduced the burden on our budget," said Kawathkar.
The department had in January last proposed to construct 50 skywalks in the city. Of the skywalks, 20 will be built by Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) and the rest by the MMRDA.
The MMRDA has also planned shopping plazas on some of these skywalks.
On August 21, the agency had inaugurated its first skywalk connecting Bandra Railway station to Kalanagar passing along the Anant Kanekar Marg in Western suburbs.
