June 2018 now new deadline for Jahangir Chowk-Rambagh Flyover

TNN Bureau. Updated: 10/17/2017 1:04:20 AM Front Page

JAMMU: In a decision that caused ripples in the Economic Reconstruction Agency (ERA), the government on 19 September had ‘shifted’ Chief Executive Officer, ERA, Vinod Sharma, for failing to meet deadlines on major projects, primarily on Jahangir Chowk-Rambagh Flyover.
The decision had come hours after the all important meeting of the Board of Directors of Economic Reconstruction Agency, where the sacked officer was to give the annual presentation.
Today, around a month later, the J&K Government has set a new deadline for the Rambagh-Jehangir Chowk flyover. The project, which has been hanging fire since 2013, and had already failed to meet two deadlines, would now be completed in June 2018.
The statement to this effect was made by Advocate General before a division bench during the hearing of a public interest litigation dealing with streamlining transport in Srinagar.
The work on the 2.4-km Rambagh-Jehangir Chowk flyover was started in 2013. It is expected that the journey on the Rambagh-Jehangir corridor, which serves as an important arterial route for the south city bound traffic, would be reduced from current 28 minutes to 2.5 minutes once completed.
The first deadline for the completion of the flyover was set in September 2016 following the devastating 2014 floods, which considerably delayed the execution of the project. However, since then it has missed several deadlines.
“The project will be completed in all respects by June 2018,” Advocate General Jahangir Iqbal submitted before the court this week.
As per the official documents, the Rs 350-crore Rambagh-Jehangir Chowk flyover has been divided into four phases and the first phase was supposed to be completed and thrown open by this October. Earlier, the first link of the project was slated to be open in June this year. However, later it was changed to September and then October.
Giving further details of the project, the Advocate General submitted that the Economic Reconstruction Agency, the executing agency of the project, has already completed the macadamisation of the Tube 1 from Rambagh to Amar Singh College and also the Tube 2 up to Alochibagh.
However, he submitted that the macadamisation of the remaining stretch of the Tube from Bakshi stadium up to Naaz was yet to be done. Traffic authorities had suggested to the High Court that macadamisation of these stretches would help in easing the traffic jams in the city.


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