Dug-up delhi: missing the point

Claims of the state administration and civic bodies notwithstanding, several prominent Commonwealth Games projects lag behind schedule and are likely to miss their deadlines. Newsline takes a look.

1. Connaught place

Developer: New Delhi Municipal Council

While NDMC will complete facade restoration work of all the blocks in CP, it has decided to stop work on the Middle Circle that remains completely dug up. It will be taken up and completed after the Games. Other work like underground service ducts, centralised air-conditioning system and construction of underground parking spaces will also be taken up after the Games.

2. Elevated Road on Barapullah Nallah

Developer: Public Works Department

The project, which will provide non-stop connectivity between the Ring Road near Sarai Kale Khan and Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium to over 10,000 players during the Games, missed its June 2009 deadline. The deadline was renewed to May 2010 and extended till mid-August. Work on two junctions on the corridor is yet to begin.

3. Rani Jhansi Road Grade separator

Developer: Municipal Corporation of Delhi

It took the MCD over 10 years to finally start work on the 1.7-km grade separator in September 2009. The civic agency says only a section of it will be ready for the Games, citing disputes over acquisition of land between various government authorities. The four-lane grade separator, to cost Rs 177 crore, will begin at Filmistan Cinema and extend till St Stephen’s Hospital, thus reducing the traffic chaos on the stretch.

4. Akshardham Flyover

Developer: Delhi Development Authority

The Akshardham Setu that will make NH-24 signal free was one of the first Games projects that succumbed to poor planning and delays. With an initial deadline of June 2009, the project will not see the light of the day before Games. The delay, officials say, was caused due to the late handing over of the land along the UP Link Road by the UP government. The DDA had also planned three cloverleaf flyovers and three slip roads to integrate them with the existing flyover.

5. U P Link road

Developer: Public Works Department

Once complete, the road will provide signal-free connectivity from the Games Village till Noida. With an initial deadline of June 2009, work on the Rs 334-crore project began only late last year. The new deadline was May 2010. Officials blamed the delay on the “tussle between Delhi and Uttar Pradesh governments over the 21-acre land used for the project”.