With Uralungal Labour Contract Co-operative Society (ULCCS) completing the rebuilding and strengthening work of the Palarivattom flyover, the structure will be handed over to Roads and Bridges Development Corporation of Kerala (RBDCK) on Friday or Saturday, E. Sreedharan, principal advisor to Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has said. He inspected the four-lane structure on Thursday.
It is up to the State government to decide when to open the flyover for vehicles, he said. Lauding ULCCS (for dismantling the pier caps, girders, and deck, rebuilding them and simultaneously strengthening the pillars) for completing the work in record time, which developed cracks within two years of its commissioning, Mr. Sreedharan said it was for the first time that he had seen “this efficient a contracting firm.”
DMRC gave word to the government to complete the work in nine months, while it set an eight-month deadline for ULCCS. The firm further brought down the time (to rebuild the flyover, which developed cracks within two years of its commissioning in 2016) to five months and 10 days. “We accorded the pride of place to quality, speed, and the structure’s finish. Kochi-based Sreegiri Consultants provided all technical help in remedying the structure’s design flaws. DMRC’s chief engineer G. Keshav Chandran and his team also played their part in ensuring speedy completion of the work, while the people of Kochi and the police cooperated when the construction was in progress,” Mr. Sreedharan recalled.
He went back in time and spoke of how chief engineer Keshav Chandran’s father late Gopinathan Nair, who was a railway engineer, was part of the team that assisted him in rebuilding the Pamban bridge in record time.
In the meantime, a press release issued by ULCCS said that Mr. Sreedharan had insisted on entrusting the work with the firm. The firm has always completed projects in a time-bound manner and striven to steer clear of corrupt practices, all the while adopting a unique work culture. Workers and engineers worked day and night to bring the project to fruition.
ULCCS, which now has 13,000 workers, had built a helipad and a 600-m road at a college at Madapally over 35 years ago in 24 hours. It also completed decongestion work in Kozhikode city and many other projects ahead of schedule. Several projects were completed at less than the estimated amount. Early completion of work lessens a project’s expense and hastens development.
A total of 300 workers worked hand-in-hand to complete the Palarivattom flyover project.
