Construction of the multi-level bridge at the Aristo Junction in the city has almost come to a standstill as issues in land transfer from central government agencies, the Railways in particular, continue to plague the project.
With the railway authorities yet to provide “enter upon” permission to execute works on a portion of its land, the Highways Department has been unable to complete the first stage of the project.
Consequently, the second stage of the project is likely to be delayed. Only after the completion of the first stage that the Highways Department would call for tenders for the second stage of the project.
The project, taken up by the Railways and the Highways Department, is being executed in two stages and envisages widening of the narrow road overbridge across the railway lines near the Tiruchi Junction on the Madurai Road intersection. In the first stage, a new three-lane road-over-bridge with five arms will be built at a cost of Rs. 44.28 crore adjacent to the existing bridge. In the next stage, the old bridge will be dismantled and a new bridge with two arms built in its place. That will take another two years to complete.
According to sources in the Highways Department, 78 per cent of the first stage of the project has been completed but the remaining work could not be completed as the department is yet to get possession of the required land.
The first stage of the new flyover is scheduled to be completed by February 2017 and the second stage by 2019. But this could be delayed significantly now.
The Highways Department had sought the transfer of about 2,000 square metres of land for the first stage. Although parleys have been going on for more than a year now, the Railways and Highways Department are yet to reach an agreement on the value of the land to be transferred for the project. The Highways Department has been seeking “enter-upon permission” from the Railways so that the work could proceed until an agreement was reached.
In last December, the Chief Bridge Engineer of the Railways is said to have suggested that enter-upon permission could be given to the Highways Department as the land is required for public use and similar processes of land transfer were going on at several places across the state. But, local railway authorities are yet to give the permission, the sources said. The railways is said to laying several conditions which are unacceptable to the Highways.
For instance, the railways has proposed to give the land only on long lease for 35 years for a compensation of 99 per cent of the market value of the land.
“The Railways is very much part of the project. For, it envisages the replacement of the narrow bridge and raise its height to facilitate the electrification on the section,” said a highways official exasperated over the hesitation on the part of the local railway authorities to provide enter-upon permission.
Pending the land transfer, the Highways Department could not complete the service lanes along the Dindigul Highway. The department had planned to provide service lane for a width of seven metres but the lane built now (as a temporary measure to ease traffic congestion) is of varying width ranging from five to 2.5 metres. “Navigating beneath the flyover has become highly risky. Accidents have become frequent,” said G.Janakiraman and P.V.Dharmaraj of the United Welfare Association, a residents welfare association of Karumandapam. The railways should provide the land at the earliest in the interest of public, they said.
Construction of the arm towards Mannarpuram has been hampered as the Highways Department is yet to get possession of the defence land. However, the defence authorities have agreed to provide the land and accept the compensation from the Highways Department without insisting on their earlier demand for land of equal extent and value in exchange from the State government.
The land is expected to be transferred soon once the compensation is paid to the Defence Ministry, the sources said. The arm towards the Central Bus Stand remains incomplete due to litigation.
The sources indicated the remaining works on the first stage could be completed within three months from the date of the land being made available to the department. But in the absence of a strong lobby to take up the city’s development cause, it appears that the Highways Department is still faced with a big obstacle.
