Construction of the road over bridge (ROB) near the Railway Junction in the city resumed on Saturday, bringing a sigh of relief to residents, district officials and elected representatives.
Minister for Municipal Administration, K. N. Nehru, formally inaugurated the resumption of works of the project, which had been stalled for several years pending the transfer of a piece of land owned by the Ministry of Defence.
The State Highways Department and the Defence Estates Office signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) a few days ago, paving the way for the land transfer and resumption of the stalled project. The piece of land was handed over to the Highways Department on May 5.
Construction of the multi-level ROB, being built in two stages, had to be suspended after nearly 90% of the first stage of the project was completed but for the Chennai arm of the bridge, which needs to be connected to a new approach road to be laid across the Defence land for a length of about 134 metres. The Chennai arm is the final segment of the first stage of the project.
Speaking to reporters on the occasion, Mr.Nehru said that the ROB would be completed within three months. The remaining works on the ROB, including building service lanes and storm water drains, is being executed at a cost of ₹3.53 crore.
In November last year, the Ministry of Defence had granted ‘working permission’ to the Highways Department for construction of the remaining portion of the incomplete, after some hectic lobbying by elected representatives and officials of the State government. The permission was granted in lieu of ‘equal value infrastructure’ (EVI) to be provided by the Highways Department.
The recent signing of the MoU brought to an end the prolonged stalemate over the land transfer issue. Mr.Nehru observed that the long drawn out process has been completed through the efforts of various agencies and elected representatives.
Administrative sanction for the project was issued in February 2011. The initial project estimate of ₹74 crore was later revised to ₹115.59 crore. Construction of the first stage of the flyover began in February 2014 and was scheduled to be completed by February 2017. A couple of arms of the ROB have already been thrown open for traffic.
Mr. Nehru said that the second stage of the project would be taken up upon completion of the first stage. Once the ROB is completed and opened for traffic, the Highways Department will go ahead with the second stage which envisages dismantling of the existing narrow bridge at the site and construction of a new one.
