The nightmare from the entrepreneur

Look at the photograph below [1].

Block out the traffic below the garish, huge, incongruous, red structure and what you see can go for a model of the famed, majestic, imposing, iconic Rabindra Setu (aka Howrah Bridge) across River Hooghly in Kolkata. But in reality, it is a model for the greed of the entrepreneur.

Perhaps you did not see the resemblance, but as a structural engineer there is no way I can ignore how unashamedly the designer had copied the original; most inappropriately at that, adding insult to injury.

Why is the copying inappropriate?

Well, recall that Howrah Bridge was built in the early to middle decades of the 20th century. Steel was the champion material for bridges then. And, it had a prototype: the, again famed, majestic, imposing, iconic, Firth of Forth Bridge.

[The picture above, inserted after a few days after posting the piece, is how structural engineers imagine things, test them out and realize their ideas - a matter of professional pride for me. I have to repeatedly remind myself to show this photograph  to all new engineers with whom I come in contact.]

Now, my problem is this. A signature bridge (even before that appellation came into fashion and became commonplace), the Forth Bridge, spawned an illustrious successor, the Howrah Bridge. But, for Howrah Bridge? Oh my! this successor, this ugly duckling of a foot over bridge (FOB) in Hyderabad that has no chance of ever being transformed into a beautiful swan. Never.

As this is the season for taking offence, on behalf of Howrah Bridge, I am offended.

That was a slight deviation from explaining why this FOB is inappropriate. When sleek designs are at one’s fingertips, there is no need for this monstrosity. Steel is not the only game in town. When and if we get to the more exotic material like fibre reinforced plastics, carbon fibre composites, glass reinforced profiles etc. the FOBs will be conspicuous by blending in with the environment and not standing out like sore thumbs. But, I am not talking about those, coming with a hefty technology premium. What about the regular, workman like, fully functional, no-frills FOBs that dot Delhi roadscape, with an occasional supposedly novel stuff?

Even if not sleek, the FOBs below (all photographs from the Net) are not monstrous. Try saying that about the Hyderabad FOB without choking on the words. This is why the Hyderabad FOB is inappropriate.

From the famed progenitor to the shamed progeny. As a structural engineer, I hang my head in shame and is there an architect to hang the blame on? I would not guess so. Why? There are many reasons and I will put forth only two. No self-respecting architect will ever put his reputation on line so obviously. The second reason: the FOB is to be executed on PPP (Public Private Partnership – BOT mode) and the entrepreneur would not have spent a dime on architecture, no matter the demands of society.

While I cannot offer proof for the first of the two reasons above, for the second one, I do have, though only on hearsay. The contractor for the FOB at “NMDC crossroads enroute to (sic) Mehdipatnam” seems to have decided that whether the facility serves the pedestrians or not, whether it enhances the aesthetics of the area or not, it must serve up more profits to him, through advertisements, hoardings. No architects, more profits. Simple.

There shall be no scrimping on size of hoardings, the bigger the better. If you want a hold on the size of the banner, look at the photograph below, Dehi Metro line going over the Raja Graden Flyover in Delhi.

The entrepreneur seems to have launched a nation-wide search for a structural form that was big enough to accommodate the oversized hoardings that bring oversized profits. Lo and behold, the Howrah Bridge beckoned him. Quoting a Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) official, “Instead of looking at it [the FOB] as a revenue generating model where agencies make money through advertisements, our priority should be building facilities for pedestrians.” Well, he got that right but only in hindsight.

Yes, PPP is the way to go because “budgetary support” is a four letter word. The budget has to be reined in, the fiscal authorities have said. Fiscal consolidation, once; fiscal consolidation, twice; fiscal consolidation, thrice - SOLD. Try the market. Pay the interest rate, because you can get it back and then some, on advertising . And, make things bigger, not because they are needed for the public, to enhance the functionality, but  for the hoardings, for the advertisers, ultimately for the profits for the entrepreneur.

Now you know how entrepreneurs visit nightmares on us.

Raghuram Ekambaram

References

1. http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Hyderabad/ghmc-to-dump-pppbot-mode-for-new-foot-over-bridges/article4001650.ece?homepage=true