Delhi government clears signature bridge project

The Delhi government on Friday cleared two major pending projects -- completion of a signature bridge and two new academic blocks in the Delhi Technological University (DTU).

The Expenditure Finance Committee (EFC), in a meeting with Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, approved the Public Works Department's proposal for the completion of construction work of the signature bridge at Wazirabad at a revised estimated cost of Rs 1,518 crore.

"The total revised estimated cost was approved by the EFC after considering the CPWD report on the bridge construction project. PWD has already released Rs 1,380 crore to the DTTDC for the project so far," said a statement released by Sisodia's office.

After missing multiple deadlines due to inadequate funds, the iconic bridge was likely to open by October, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted earlier.

The signature bridge project was initially approved in 1997 after an accident on the narrow Wazirabad bridge wherein a school bus fell into the Yamuna, killing 22 children.

The completion of the bridge has been delayed by several years due to inadequate funds while the project cost has gone up from Rs 1,100 crore to Rs 1,575 crore.

Conceptualised in 2004 the bridge project got the nod from the Delhi Cabinet in 2007. The first deadline was fixed ahead of the 2010 Commonwealth Games, but was revised to 2013, then pushed to June 2016 and later to July 2017, which was further pushed to December 2017.

The 675m long and 35.2m wide bridge will be the first asymmetrical cable-stayed bridge in the country, which will take away vehicular pressure off the existing Wazirabad bridge. 

The EFC also approved the construction of two more blocks at the DTU under phase II, which would accommodate over 3,000 more students at the university.

According to the official statement: "The EFC approved the Directorate of Training and Technical Education proposal for the construction of first stage of phase II at Delhi Technological University, Shahabad Daulatpur, Bawana Road at an estimated cost of approximately Rs 292 crore.

"Under this project, five buildings -- two academic blocks of 10 storeys each and three hostel blocks of 13 storeys each have been approved.

"On completion, this will house 3,800 students in the academic block and 990 students will be accommodated in hostels."

The committee approved the timeline for completion of the project within 19 months from July 6, 2018.

PWD Minister Satyendar Jain, Principal Secretaries of Finance, PWD and Technical Education and other senior officials were also present at the meeting. - IANS