Vadodara: After long delay, iconic flyover to reach end soon

VADODARA: Though it was designed to be a project for betterment, it resulted in being commuters’ nightmare for nearly five years. However, it will be a pain of the past when the much-awaited longest flyover in a city in the state will be opened for traffic within a couple of weeks ending people’s agonizing travel in the city.
The 3.5km-long flyover was supposed to be an iconic project of the Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) for the city and expected to reduce traffic congestion. But the lengthy duration of work on it only caused citizens harrowing times.
The flyover passes over Genda Circle, Trident Circle, GEB Circle, Chakli Circle,Malhar Point, Diwalipura Crossroads and Manisha Crossroads.
Gouing by the officials, it was the Covid-19 pandemic and then paucity of funds that are to be blamed for the inordinate delay in work on the flyover that was started in 2017. The flyover was started only after the state government committed funds towards the project which is expected to cost around Rs 230 crore.
The state government gave Rs 76 crore for the project in 2017, but afterwards insisted that the expenses should be borne from the ‘Swarnim Gujarat’ grant provided to the civic body. Cash-strapped VMC struggled to manage the funds and thereby, the work which was to be completed in three years, is still in progress.
The project gained momentum only after February this year when the state government earmarked Rs 100 crore for the project after a series of representations from VMC functionaries as well as other elected representatives from the city. While the civic body was eyeing to complete the project before the assembly elections, it could not do so as a significant portion of the work was pending.
VMC’s executive engineer (bridge projects) Ravindrakumar Pandya said that only works like carpeting, colour, plantation, filling of joints, traffic features, and lighting remain on some portions of the flyover. “We hope to complete the work soon,” he said. The pending work may take around 10 days, sources said.
Pandya added that work on the roads below the flyover had also been taken up. He said that some portions of service roads may be laid after the work gets over to ensure that they are not dug up again for some minor work that might arise later.