“The progress of the project has slowed down because of financial issues,” said a PWD officer on Tuesday. “There are some contractor bills pending and, in any case, more funds are required to take things forward at a faster pace. The work is going on but not at the rate to meet the December-end deadline.”
Another problem is a green patch with grown trees that will be affected by the construction. The forest department has identified approximately 275 trees that are of interest. A PWD officer said, “Approval for the trees to be felled or shifted is pending though we are trying to work around the problem. But work has slowed down.”
A forest officer responded, “Our department has done its work. The trees will either be felled or transplanted. However, a final inspection will have to be conducted to see how many trees can be saved. It is a lengthy process because we also have to identify the space where those trees will be transplanted or where compensatory plantation can be done.”
The longest elevated corridor project in the capital is more than 90% completed. But Phase III, whose target is to provide signal-free connectivity between Mayur Vihar and south Delhi, remains unachieved. Being over the Yamuna floodplain, this portion has been a challenge. Every year, due to the monsoon rains, the work site is flooded and the project comes to a halt.
The project has faced numerous delays. Phase III of the project, entailing construction of a 3.5-km-long stretch, started in April 2015 and was to have been finished by October 2017. But land acquisition became a stumbling block. Last year, PWD was given 6 acres of the 8.5 required to construct 690 metres of the remaining portion and the deadline revised to December 2024. Most of the land parcels that have been acquired and handed over to PWD are private ones on the Yamuna floodplain.
Both the ramps of the elevated corridor — one from Mayur Vihar and the other, an extension of the existing corridor near Sarai Kale Khan — have been readied. PWD has also completed the work of an extradosed bridge over the Yamuna, which will hold the entire corridor together.
In November last year, lieutenant governor VK Saxena ordered an inquiry into the cost escalation the project had seen and expressed displeasure at the delays, attributing it to lack of proper planning. Saxena noted that the government would end up paying Rs 1,326.4 crore for the road project against the tendered amount of Rs 964 crore.
