Barapullah Phase III to miss deadline

Work on the 10-km-long elevated corridor delayed due to hurdles in land acquisition

Phase III of the Barapullah flyover, connecting Sarai Kale Khan in south Delhi to Mayur Vihar in east Delhi, is likely to miss its deadline owing to hurdles in land acquisition.

Slow pace

Work on the 10-km-long corridor began in 2015 and was expected to be completed by October this year. Once operational, the flyover will cut down travel time between the two locations from an hour to an estimated 20 minutes.

So far, however, less than half of the work has been executed by the Public Works Department (PWD). The project will be further delayed as two adjacent pieces of land on the Yamuna floodplains measuring 500 m and 200 m are yet be acquired, said an official. The land belongs to a private individual.

The highlight of Phase III is a 550-m-long extradosed bridge being built over the Yamuna. This means that the structure will be a combination of a girder bridge and a cable-styled bridge. It will have only six piers with a 128-metre span in the river portion.

It is in relation to the construction of additional piers on the floodplains that the problem has surfaced.

Procedural delays

The official said procedural delays resulting from this would push the date of completion of the ₹964-crore flyover to 2019.

In December last year, the Delhi government threw open three loops on Phase II, spelling relief for residents of Maharani Bagh, Siddharth Extension and Sarita Vihar, among others. The loops cost ₹66 crore.

Before this, commuters going towards south Delhi from Noida via the DND had to turn from below the flyover adjacent the Nizamuddin railway station before proceeding to the Barapullah flyover.

Also, congestion on the stretch between Gurdwara Bala Sahib and Sarai Kale Khan has been reduced.

The entire corridor, consisting of four phases, will be a signal-free stretch for commuters travelling between east Delhi and the Indira Gandhi International Airport.

Feasibility study

According to the official, a feasibility study on Phase IV is under way. The biggest hurdle is ascertaining the availability of land, for it is spread across several locations in south Delhi where it is criss-crossed by government, private and inter-departmental ownership.