Key city flyover to miss 2020 deadline

Ranchi: The completion of the ongoing flyover project in Kantatoli, one of the main entry points to the city on National Highway-33, is likely to be delayed further owing to "its unscientific and faulty planning".
The 1,250-metre-long flyover — the foundation stone of which was laid by President Ram Nath Kovind in 2017 — was supposed to be over a year ago when the erstwhile Raghubar Das-led government was in office. However, after a revision of the project’s estimated cost and finalising it at Rs 257 crore, the new deadline was fixed for 2020.
But now, owing to its alleged faulty and unscientific design and planning, the state urban development department has scrapped the existing detailed project report (DPR) and has initiated groundwork to look for a new agency to prepare a fresh tender.
The Jharkhand Urban Infrastructure Development Company (JUIDCO) — an arm of the state urban development department which is entrusted with the task of completing the project — is unable to find any takers for preparation of a new DPR despite floating tenders to hire an agency at least thrice in the past one month. JUIDCO sources on Saturday said another round of tender for a fresh DPR will be floated in a week’s time.
Talking to TOI, JUIDCO’s project director (technical) Ramesh Kumar said, "The existing DPR has several faults and as a result, the state urban development department has now asked for a fresh plan. Work on the flyover project is ongoing but will take some time for its completion. We are trying to come up with the best structure that will sort out traffic woes and not complicate them."
He, however, couldn’t give any timeline on completion of the project.
Though Kumar didn’t wish to comment much on the earlier DPR prepared by Mecon, a public sector undertaking headquartered in Ranchi, he said that the government wasn’t satisfied by their plan, which was unscientific on all fronts. Kumar added that the government is planning to take action against Mecon for submitting a faulty DPR.
Asked about the reasons behind the delay in getting an agency for preparing a fresh DPR, Kumar said that due to lockdown, they aren’t able to get any bidders. Another source said the length of the flyover was itself a major bone of contention. "The flyover has been proposed from Kokar till YMCA and once you cross this point, there is Bahu Bazar and Siramtoli Chowk, two major traffic bottleneck points. Had we continued with the existing plan, it would have failed to solve traffic jams in this area and the entire purpose of building a flyover would have been defeated. The urban development department now wants the flyover to be extended till Yogada Satsang point," said an official in the urban development department.
Urban development secretary Vinay Kumar Choubey, soon after taking charge last month, had inspected the site and raised a few objections regarding its planning, prompting JUDICO to work afresh.
Meanwhile, commuting in the Kantatoli area has turned nightmarish for the locals owing to the ongoing work. During the ongoing monsoon, the problems become worse, causing regular accidents and vehicular snags, locals said.