Now Reading: Lucknow Eye stalled 14 years, soil tests force fresh design review
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Lucknow Eye stalled 14 years, soil tests force fresh design review
The Lucknow Eye, a 30-metre giant wheel proposed in 2012 as a tourism draw modelled on the London Eye, is back under review after soil tests at the Gomti riverfront site raised…
The Lucknow Eye, a 30-metre giant wheel proposed in 2012 as a tourism draw modelled on the London Eye, is back under review after soil tests at the Gomti riverfront site raised doubts about whether the alluvial ground can support the structure as originally planned. The Lucknow Development Authority has asked IIT Delhi to prepare a revised detailed project report factoring in the soil conditions.
Senior LDA officials said the project has not been scrapped, but its feasibility must be reassessed. The authority had announced in 2015 that construction would begin within three months, but the proposal never moved beyond planning. The last major presentation on the project was around 2022.
Under the earlier plan, the wheel would have carried up to eight passengers per air-conditioned cabin. The LDA will decide whether to retain, modify or replace the original design only after receiving IIT Delhi's fresh report.
Indian Opinion Analysis
The Gomati riverfront, where the Lucknow Eye was to rise, sits on alluvial floodplain soil, soft, sandy, and prone to shifting under heavy loads. That geological reality has stalled many infrastructure projects across Uttar Pradesh's plains. The ₹150-crore plan, conceived as a PPP, never reached financial closure, and no private partner was ever announced. For the LDA, the revised DPR from IIT Delhi is effectively a go/no-go gate: if the soil cannot hold even a 30-metre wheel, the project will likely be shelved for good. The next concrete milestone is the receipt of that report, which the LDA has not yet dated.
Source: hindustantimes.com
This story was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
