UT Admn sets a 15-month deadline for Tribune flyover

Ramkrishan Upadhyay

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 12

The shifting of underground services for the Tribune flyover will cost around Rs 21 crore. The UT Administration has allotted the work for the purpose, which is likely to start next week.

Though the Administration is yet to allot the work of the flyover to the firm, DRAIPL-DMR (JV), selected in financial bids opened recently to carry out the project, and is awaiting the nod of the ministry for the purpose, it has asked the departments concerned to carry out related works as fast as possible so that the site can be handed over the firm to carry out the project.

Sources said the Administration had fixed a 15-month deadline for the completion of the project. The deadline would commence after the shifting of the underground services and removal of trees. A senior officer of the Administration said the most challenging job for the Engineering Department was to shift the 120-inch storm drainage pipeline running beneath the Tribune roundabout. Besides, water pipelines and sewer lines will also be shifted to make way for the underpass.

Besides the flyover, there is a plan to construct an underpass along Purv Marg and an elevated rotary at Tribune Chowk with slip roads on all sides. The 1,142-metre six-lane flyover will start right after the GMCH roundabout and cover Tribune Chowk along Dakshin Marg. An officer of the Engineering Department said all necessary safety measures would be ensured when the construction work starts. The contractor would have to cover the construction area with plastic or iron sheets to ensure minimum pollution in the surrounding areas.

The flyover was announced two years ago by Nitin Gadkari, Minister for Road Transport and Highways, on the recommendation of Kirron Kher, MP. Punjab Governor and UT Administrator VP Singh Badnore had laid the foundation stone of the project on March 3, 2019.