PWD wants Delhi govt to help shift utilities near RTR flyover

NEW DELHI: The public works department (PWD) has asked the Aam Aadmi Party government to intervene and persuade various agencies to shift the utilities that are coming in the way of widening the Rao Tula Ram Marg flyover in south Delhi.

In a note sent to the PWD secretary, the engineering wing said any delay in shifting utility services such as electricity, telecom cables and water and sewage pipelines could delay the proposed widening of the flyover, resulting in more chaos along Outer Ring Road.

“These services should have been shifted at least a year ago. We are working against tight deadlines. Any delay in removing the cables and the pipelines would delay the project,” a senior PWD official said.

The PWD has proposed the construction of a parallel elevated road along the existing Rao Tula Ram Marg flyover to decongest the stretch of Outer Ring Road that witnesses traffic snarls throughout the day. The two-lane existing flyover, which was constructed before the Commonwealth Games over the intersection of Outer Ring Road and Rao Tula Ram Marg, was found inadequate to cater to such high volume of traffic.

After much brainstorming and several failed attempts to improve traffic flow on the stretch, the PWD in early 2013 proposed a three-lane and 2.2 kilometre flyover parallel to the existing Rao Tula Ram Marg flyover at a cost of R125 crore. The 2.2 kilometre proposed flyover would branch out from the existing flyover.

“We cannot start digging the road and begin actual construction unless underground utility services such as electricity and phone cables, water, sewage and gas pipelines are shifted. We have written to the agencies concerned several times and have even had meetings with their representatives. They made promises but nothing changed on the ground,” said an official.

Another official said the agencies were approached in November 2013 and in ideal conditions the shifting of services do not take more than two months.

“We had allowed these agencies to lay their services on condition that they will remove them whenever the PWD decides to widen the road,” an official said.

The deadline to complete the flyover is June 2016, said an engineer.

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