Traffic woes of people in and around Pappinissery are not likely to end any sooner.
The work for constructing the railway overbridge at Pappinissery as part of the ongoing road upgradation under the Kerala State Transport Project (KSTP) is moving at a snail’s pace.
The overbridge at Pappinissery is one of the two overbridges to be constructed under the road upgradation project, the other being at Thavam.
Extended
As per the contract, the contractor (RDS Projects, Kochi) should have completed Rs.118.29-crore project for upgrading the 20.90-km-long Pappinissery-Pazhayangadi road by April this year.
Now the completion period has been extended to March 2016.
According to the KSTP engineers, the construction work is progressing in such a tardy way that only 27 per cent of the whole road upgradation has been completed now. A major cause of concern is the slow pace of the overbridge construction at Pappinissery.
Though the work initially suffered because of the non-diversion of entire traffic on the road, the work is yet to gather pace even after a diversion road has been opened for the traffic, they say.
Local MLA K.M. Shaji visited the overbridge site at Pappinissery on May 28 following a review meeting at the Collectorate.
He said there would be a temporary respite for the people of the area from the traffic inconvenience in a month, as another diversion road for smaller vehicles would be opened near the work site.
Piling work
The KSTP officials also assured that a major part of the ongoing piling work for the overbridge would be completed by June.
The KSTP’s appraisal sites shortage of materials, equipment, and workers as some of the major reasons for the delay in the road upgradation.
They say that the monthly targets as per the revised construction schedule for the contractor have not been achieved.
