Church Street to get a swanky new look

The crater-riddled, sewage water spewing from manholes, feet-breaking footpath and a home to hundreds of rats, Church Street, is likely to turn into a posh stretch with special lighting, pedestrian-friendly footpath, music and seating arrangements in the days to come.

Thanks to the architect Naresh Narasimhan, who has designed Church Street Road based on the Paris model on the lines of TenderSURE (Specifications for Urban Roads Execution) project.

“The entire 750m stretch will be pedestrian-friendly with 2m wide footpath (preferably made of granite stones) on both sides and a 5m wide road made of cobble stones with concrete. Besides, there will be parking space for as many as 32 cars and about 200 two wheelers,” said Naresh.

“We have also included pedestrian seats in places where there are trees and the stretch is wide. A private firm has also come forward to provide free sounds to play recorded music,” the architect said.

Meanwhile, the BBMP has prepared a Detailed Project Report (DPR). Mayor Manjunath Reddy told Deccan Herald that it costs around Rs 8 crore to develop the road going by the design, but the BBMP alone cannot spend so much money on one stretch.

Fund crunch
“As of now, the BBMP has set aside Rs 5 crore under 13th Finance Commission. We have asked the support of Church Street Welfare Association to raise funds from the local occupancies.

If all goes well, we will bring the project before the council in December. If approved, we will float the tender immediately”, he said.

Anuradha Sarin, member of Church Street Association, said that they are trying their best to raise funds.

“We have spoken to few people already. If not the entire amount, we will raise at least some funds,” she said. At present, the busy Church Street, has been an example of poor road, footpath and sewage lines. Nihal Singh, a student, said that if one side of the footpath is encroached by vehicles, the other one is bad, with broken slabs.

Prashant Jeng, a watchman, said he sees sewage spewing on most of the days. Soham Misal says that he uses metro to come here as there is no parking space on this stretch, while Abhishek T and his friend Kavana Krishna said that the roads are full of potholes and its back-breaking to ride.