The busy Jayadev Vihar road, where the foot overbridge will come up. Telegraph picture

Bhubaneswar, July 23: The construction of the first foot overbridge at Jayadev Vihar over Vidyut Marg that connects the airport to Nandankanan zoo is set to begin from July 27, nearly two years after the foundation stone was laid for the project.

Two other foot overbridges have also been planned at Ashoka market near Master Canteen Square and near Ramadevi Women’s college at Saheed Nagar. Work on the Master Canteen overbridge will begin soon after the Jayadev Vihar project takes off.

However, construction of the third overbridge in front of RD College will be taken up later as the matter is subjudice. Local traders had approached the court and got a stay order.

Today, a team of Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation officials and staff of the private company that will build the structure visited the proposed spot at Jayadev Vihar Square. “All paperwork have been finished and we are hopeful of starting work by July 27 if things go according to plan,” said an official of the construction firm Ajanta Badri-Vishal Media Initiative.

An official said the overbridge would have elevators along with stairs for senior citizens, children and disabled persons. Elevators will also be installed at other foot overbridges. The elevators will have the capacity to carry 13 persons at a time.

“Construction of each of these overbridges will cost around Rs 2 crore. We will take up construction of the overbridges at Jayadev Vihar and Master Canteen simultaneously. The construction of each overbridge will take at least six months if there are no hurdles,” said the officer. The overbridge in Cuttack had taken around one-and-a-half years.

The construction agency will also maintain the structure and and collect revenue from advertisement space. Sources said the civic body would get Rs 5.3 lakh a year from the private agency.

Sources in the corporation said that foundation stones for the three overbridges were laid in August 2011 and a proposal was floated in November that year. The tender was finalised after around eight months. The private agency chosen for the construction signed the agreement for the project with the civic body in October last year.

Officials said the foundation stones were laid in a hurry without the traffic police and the general administration department being consulted about the availability of land at those sites.

Later, the sites were shifted to Jayadev Vihar and Master Canteen due to objections and non-availability of land for the projects. The civic authority had initially laid the foundation stone for an overbridge near the Jayadev Vihar flyover with one end at a place where local autorickshaw drivers parked their vehicles. But the site was later relocated to a spot a few metres away because of land acquisition problems.

“The private agency has finished all its work. It has assured that the overbridge work will start by the end of this month. It has also assured that the work will be over in six months,” said B.K. Routray, the environment officer who was in the team today.