The 1.6-km-long flyover from near St Stephen’s Hospital to Filmistaan Cinema was originally scheduled to be completed by 2010.
The much-delayed Grade Separator at Rani Jhansi Road, which was supposed to be ready by August 15 this year, has missed its seventh deadline — the latest reason being a kanwaria camp near the site. The civic body has set no new deadline for the project. Lt Governor Anil Baijal had inspected the site in June and directed various departments to complete the work ahead of Independence Day.
Officials and North civic body leaders had also assured in a standing committee meeting on June 27 that the project will be completed in the given time frame. A senior official said, “Around 2% is left. It would have been completed by now but construction work was halted because a kanwaria camp was set up near the site. For their safety, the work was halted.” He said the last leg of the work is being carried out near Azad Market, and will be completed this month.
The 1.6-km-long flyover from near St Stephen’s Hospital to Filmistaan Cinema was originally scheduled to be completed by 2010, but has missed several deadlines. Once opened, it will benefit residents of areas such as Shakti Nagar, Karol Bagh, Gulabi Bagh, Kamla Nagar, Sadar Bazar, Paharganj, Azad Market and surrounding areas.
The contractual cost of the project was Rs 93.84 crore when it was conceived in 2008, while the overall cost of the project was Rs 177.7 crore. It was increased to Rs 724 crore in 2014. North DMC officials said construction work is almost over and last-minute cosmetic work remains. He said delays in acquiring land for the project led to increase in land rates. The civic body had in June this year increased the budget but also ordered a departmental audit into the revised contractual cost.