The proposed Rs 180-crore three-lane Harmu-Ratu flyover, which was supposed to change the capital skyline and cut travel time of lakhs of commuters every day, is staring at an unprecedented delay.
Jharkhand Urban Infrastructure Development Company (Juidco), the arm of the state urban development department overseeing this project, has cancelled the tender given to Mecon Limited for the flyover’s detailed project report (DPR) and decided to float a fresh one.
Prodded why, a senior Juidco official revealed Mecon had refused to prepare a fresh DPR after the first was not found suitable. Mecon’s DPR for the three-lane flyover had been sent for technical sanction to the chief design officer of road construction department, but the latter rejected it on aesthetic-structural grounds and advised a fresh DPR, the Juidco official said.
The chief design officer had suggested certain structural changes and a grade separator near Ratu Road, the Juidco official said. Grade separators are arrangements (flyovers, underpasses, overbridges) where traffic from various directions at a junction are allowed to cross each other at varying heights. “Mecon expressed their inability to make fresh DPR. We have now decided to cancel the tender and float a fresh one,” the Juidco official said.
Juidco general manager (public works) Ashok Kumar confirmed it. “We cancelled the tender given to Mecon. We’d would soon issue a tender inviting a new consultant to prepare the DPR that takes into consideration objections raised and suggestion given by the chief design officer (of road construction), which are essential for the flyover’s longer life span and lesser disturbance in traffic flow.”
He added, “The earlier DPR was found flawed after taking into consideration traffic density on this route. We hope to complete the tender process this month. Once construction starts, it will be ready in two years.”
But, the two-year deadline is being viewed with scepticism even within Juidco corridors.
An official in Juidco said time was running out. “We need a new consultant. Then the consultant will draft a fresh DPR. Then, the DPR will get technical sanction. Only then will work be awarded to a builder. This is a poll year. Once model code of conduct is imposed for general elections, work will stop. At best, actual construction can start after the poll process is over in July 2019, and then it will be monsoon.”
The flyover is to be 2.34km long, likely to rise at LPN Nath Shahdeo Chowk on Kanke Road and plunge at Kartik Oraon Chowk in Harmu. Its foundation stone was laid by CM Raghubar Das in November 2017.
