Signature Bridge across Yamuna to be completed by Oct, HC told

Courts ask authorities to file a status report, fixes matter for November 14

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court was informed on Friday that the long-delayed Signature Bridge across the Yamuna river would be completed by October after which trials would be conducted. A bench consisting of Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice VK Rao asked the authorities to file a status report while fixing the matter for November 14.

“List the matter in the second week of November to enable the respondents (authorities) to complete the project and do the trial and file a report,” the bench said.

The court was informed by the counsel for the Public Works Department (PWD) that the project will be completed by October and trial run will be conducted thereafter. Meanwhile, Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Thursday inspected the work on the much-awaited Signature Bridge on the Yamuna river and promised to pay weekly visits at the site to speed up its completion. Construction of the bridge has been delayed, but once completed it will save travel time of millions of northeast Delhi residents and serve as a “crown” of Delhi tourism, he said.

The court had earlier frowned upon two city government departments for “quibbling over” the amount to be paid for the construction of the “long overdue” Signature Bridge. “A sum of Rs 1,380.1 crore, of the said amount of Rs 1,518.37 crore, has been released. The balance of Rs 1,38.27 crore is to be paid after funds are released by the Delhi government,” said the PWD counsel.

On July 12, Delhi government had approved the final revised estimate of Rs 1518.37 crore for the con- struction of Signature Bridge on Yamuna river at Wazirabad. Conceptualised in 2004, the project –India's first asymmetrical cable-stayed bridge –was approved by the Sheila Dikshitled Cabinet in 2007. Constant delays, however, escalated the cost. It was initially estimated to cost Rs 459 crore, which rose to Rs 1,131 crore in 2010.

The Signature Bridge, when completed, is expected to share the burden of vehicular traffic which is being borne by the Wazirabad bridge, which itself, according to the PWD, requires “structural rehabilitation and strengthening”.

According to the government, the bridge had obtained environmental clearance in 2011 and was set to be completed by December 2013. The date of completing the project was pushed to June 2016 and then to July 2017, which had been further shifted to December 2017. It had directed the chairperson of the Delhi Tour- ism and Transport Development Corporation (DTTDC) and the chief of engineering of the PWD to physically inspect the bridge and the alternatives provided to the citizens to satisfy themselves about the construction. The bridge will connect Delhi with many industrial areas of Uttar Pradesh, like the Tronica city in Ghaziabad.

The court was earlier informed by the PWD that it had already paid Rs 1,344 crore for the project as against the initially agreed cost of Rs 544 crore, and now the DTTDC was asking for Rs 200 crore more. The DTTDC, on the other hand, had told the court that the cost of the project has escalated. The court was hearing a PIL by advocate Pratibha Chopra, who pointed to the inordinate delay in the project and alleged that the construction of the bridge had missed several deadlines since 2011.