The state government has decided to set up a 1.7-km flyover from Dum Dum Park to Teghoria bus stand to reduce the traffic load on VIP Road.

“We will build the flyover to ease the congestion on VIP Road. The flyover will run from Dum Dum Park to the Teghoria bus stand, via Baguiati. There will be an underpass at Baguiati,” finance minister Asim Dasgupta said on Wednesday.

The finance department will “fully fund” the Rs 150- crore project, to be undertaken by the public works department (PWD). “The deadline is a year and a half. The foundation stone will be laid in January,” the minister added.

Before announcing the plan, Dasgupta met transport minister Subhas Chakraborty, PWD minister Kshiti Goswami, Dum Dum MP Amitava Nandi and Rajarhat MLA Rabin Mondal.

The flyover will have two flanks on either side of VIP Road. “There will be no structure over the middle of the road, which has been reserved for Metro Rail that will soon be extended up to the airport,” Goswami said.

Officials said the project was conceived two years ago. “A tussle between the urban development department and the PWD led to the delay in execution,” said an official.

Mondal said the urban development department had been asked to build the flyover after he had written to the chief minister six months ago requesting him to expedite the project. “But for some unknown reason there was no progress.”

Sources said the urban development department refused to take up the project on the ground that VIP Road belonged to PWD. PWD, on the other hand, said it did not have funds.

“The finance minister resolved the issue by announcing that his department would fund the project fully, along with the underpass,” said an official.