Having completed half of the Town Hall pedestrian underpass last week, Mangalore Smart City Ltd. (MSCL) that is executing the project expects to complete the balance work by June-end, provided the city does not witness torrential rain.
After completing the work beneath the carriageway from A.B. Shetty Circle to Clock Tower on Maidan Road, MSCL opened the stretch on Tuesday for regular traffic and commenced work on the other carriageway between Clock Tower and A.B. Shetty Circle. As earlier, vehicles from Clock Tower to A.B. Shetty Circle are allowed to move through the opened stretch while those from A.B. Shetty Circle towards Clock Tower have to take the service bus stand road. MSCL had the target of May to complete the entire work of the ₹6 crore pedestrian underpass project if everything was in order. However, the lockdown considerably delayed the project.
Smart City Managing Director Mohammed Nazeer told The Hindu that now the company has plans to raise columns by June 5 after completing the earth work that has already started. Once columns are ready, the entire work could be completed by June 20, he said. Concrete works of the box may not get affected unless there was continuous heavy rain, he added.
The first part of the box got delayed due to the presence of various utility cables, including telephone and power, serving the central parts of the city including the Deputy Commissioner’s office. BSNL had to shift over 50 cables, each with an average of 1,200 connections, by joining pair by pair. Mangalore Electricity Supply Company too had to shift a 33 kV underground cable supplying power to Forum Fiza Mall.
However, there were no utility cables beneath the carriageway abutting the Mini Vidhana Soudha where the present work is going on. Hence, work on this stretch would not take much time, Mr. Nazeer said.