Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday inaugurated the newly constructed Seelampur-Shastri Park flyover, which will be a major relief to commuters between Welcome in north-east Delhi and Kashmere Gate and Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border.
Congratulating the people of Delhi and the PWD officials and engineers for the completion of the project, Mr. Kejriwal said that the residents were proud of living in the national capital due to all the facilities and amenities provided by the Delhi government.
The Shastri Park flyover consists of six lanes and is constructed at a length of 700 metres, whereas the Seelampur flyover is constructed at a length of 1,200 metres and eases the commute of vehicles travelling over the Dharampura crossing towards Shahdara. The construction of the new flyover will bring relief to around 1.5 lakh vehicles which seem to travel through the route daily.
“First of all, I want to congratulate the residents of East Delhi for these two flyovers. The people of East Delhi used to face long traffic jams for longer hours. But now, travel from ISBT to U.P. border can now be completed within a span of 10 minutes without any traffic jams and with a smooth ride,” Mr. Kejriwal said.
“The flyover constructed is of good quality. The tender sanctioned for this project was ₹303 crore, but, such is the honesty with which the AAP government functions that our engineers saved ₹53 crore. With a great construction quality, built under ₹250 crore, this piece of magnificence is both economical and effective. Since the inception of AAP government in Delhi, we are saving money on all projects. The AAP government has been saving money in every project,” he also said.
Delay in completion
The foundation stone for the newly constructed flyover was laid by Mr. Kejriwal on February 10, 2019. Due to the rising levels of pollution and the implementation of GRAP guidelines in 2019, construction projects were banned during the night which brought the flyover construction to a standstill, the government said.
However, the flyover was 70% completed until October 2019, and despite the implementation of anti-construction guidelines and a six-month halt due to the COVID-19 lockdown, the project was completed in a time duration of 19 months, it said.
