NOIDA: The much-awaited underpass at Sector 51-52 and 71-72 intersection, which was planned to ease traffic from Wave City Centre metro station towards Noida Extension, will miss its December 2020 deadline. With over 80% of the work completed, it is now expected to be ready by January-end or early February next year.
Covid lockdown and the recent National Green Tribunal (NGT) regulations on construction activities, including slow digging to avoid dust pollution, have been cited as reasons behind the slow pace of work.
Mukesh Vaish, senior manager of Noida Authority, said that no work was carried out during the lockdown. “Later, NGT regulated the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) and put further restrictions on construction activity to prevent dust and air pollution. Even now, we are working at a slow pace to prevent dust pollution. We also take breaks to regularly water the area as per the guidelines,” he said.
The 780-metre-long six lane underpass, which is being built by the Noida Authority at Rs 52.58 crore through its contractor M/s ITD Cementation India Ltd, was commissioned on June 14 last year . “We have used push box technique to build this underpass. The intersection will benefit the commuters immensely once it’s ready and opened for public,” said Rajeev Tyagi, the general manager of Noida Authority.
The sector 51-52 and 71-72 intersection was a major traffic congestion point as it witnessed heavy traffic flow from Sector 62 and beyond on one side leading all the way up to the entry point of Ghaziabad, and from Wave city centre metro station to Greater Noida west on the other side.
Once ready, the underpass will also benefit the new of Sectors from 74 to 79. It comprises mostly of apartment complexes and group housing societies.
While the under-construction underpass is being built on the Master Plan-III road, Noida Authority has opened the stretch from Sectors 72-79 to Sectors 61-63 above the underpass to facilitate commuters.
While the authority had picked up pending projects post unlock, including the 5.96-km-long six lane Chilla elevated road from Sector 14A to Mahamaya flyover and the 4.50-km-long six lane Aghapur elevated road near Bhangel by deploying additional labour, the recent NGT restrictions have slowed the pace of most of the projects and it might affect deadlines, sources in the authority said.