Metro turns hurdle to underpass

Metro turns hurdle to underpass


Workers at the Magadi Road underpass construction site
N R Madhusudhan | ENS
24 Sep 2008 09:32:00 AM IST

BANGALORE: The Magadi Road junction underpass would have been ready and thrown open to the public by now if 'Namma Metro' had not come in the way.

According to the initial agreement between the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) and the East Coast Construction and Industries Limited (ECCI), the work on the Magadi Road underpass should have been completed by December 2007.

The work on the underpass, to provide a signal-free road from Rajajinagar to Vijaynagar, started on time. The hurdle came when the ECCI got entrusted with the Metro project work at the same time.

According to BDA chief engineer Shivshanker, the project got delayed because the entire design had to be changed to align it with the Metro work.

The project is expected to be completed by the end of this calendar year, he added.

The project had to be stopped for almost 10 days due to the heavy rains as water had entered the project site.

ECCI site engineer Nithyanand said that the work on the Magadi road stretch would be completed within 10 to 15 days and the road would be thrown open to the traffic.

The initial project cost was Rs 31.86 crore and the Metro work was entrusted to the ECCI at an additional cost of Rs 6 crore.

Nithyanand said that the project cost escalates every year by 15 per cent but the government would pay them according to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) norms.