Nitin Gadkari (File)
The Union ministry for road transport, highways and shipping has finally given a green signal for the construction of 13 new Railway Over Bridges (ROB) in Pune district. The designing of the recently approved ROBs in the district, which is a part of 252 ROBs sanctioned for Maharashtra at a cost of Rs 6,000 crore, has been entrusted to College of Engineering, Pune (CoEP).
The decision was announced by Union minister Nitin Gadkari during his recent visit to the city. The announcement has come as a welcome decision, particularly because several proposals of constructing ROBs have been pending for long.
The ROBs will come up at Khadki, Pimpri and Talegaon along the old Mumbai-Pune highway. Some of the other routes where the ROBs have been finalised include Katraj-Kondhwa, Theur Phata- Lonikhand, Pune-Saswad, Talegaon-Chakan-Shikharapur, Lonavala-Pune-Shelarwadi and Pune-Daund. Sharing details of the same, BG Birajdar, Professor of Applied Mechanics at CoEP, said, “We are working on the design which will not only be innovative, but also ensure that the construction work is terminated within one year.”
The engineers are proposing to make extensive use of precast moulds of pillars, slabs and other components so that there will not be obstruction caused at the construction site.
Officials are of the opinion that ROBs usually take longer time to be built as land acquisition is the major hurdle. In addition, the construction of ROBs was mostly delayed , escalating the cost by many folds. Works in rural areas, in particular, suffered due to the lack of basic amenities and limited availability supporting civil constructions adding to the transport cost of building materials. On an average, the cost of building an ROB is anywhere between Rs 25-30 crore.
“The proposed design will not only save construction time, but also be highly cost-effective as ready-to-be assembled concrete parts will be transported to the site. We are estimating the cost of ROBs built in this manner to be capped at Rs 15 crore per ROB.”
Of the total cost of the construction estimated to be Rs 6,000 crore, the state and the central governments are expected to incur equal expenses. “The construction works of the ROBs will commence within a year and it will be carried out in a time-bound manner,” Gadkari stated. When asked about the status of the project, Birajdar said, “The design is ready and will be soon submitted to the state government. Once approved, the per-requisite works of civil engineering can be initiated.”
