Work on the state-of-the-art Signature Bridge at Wazirabad has been delayed further. According to officials, 60 per cent work of main bridge and 25 per cent on approach road is still pending. The Delhi Tourism and Transport Development Corporation (DTTDC) has fixed deadline of September 2015 while contractor say that bridge will not be completed prior 2016. The contractor has also cited paucity of funds and delay of drilling machine that is being imported from Malaysia. The project has already missed several deadlines. Delhi Chief Secretary Deepak Mohan Spolia along with local BJP Mohan Singh Bisht on Saturday inspected at Wazirabad to assess the slow pace of work. The project was initially to be completed before the 2010 Commonwealth Games.
Officials say that the project will be delayed further as the contractor needs a special machine for drilling in river Yamuna. The special drilling machine is being imported from Malaysia. According to officials, Spolia directed officials to speed up the work and complete the project before the deadline. Officials say that work at pillar no. 23 has been stopped due to rock. The contractor needs special machine for drilling at pillar no. 23 and the machine is being imported. It will take at least two-three months for the machine to reach here. According to officials, the fabrication was delayed since the work was “highly technical” and of a “very precise nature” which led to the Chinese purchasing new equipment in the middle of their work. The fabrication of the steel elements that was taking place in China is now complete and four of the five consignments have already arrived in the Capital. The work of flyover at Khajuri Chowk was completed and opened for traffic on March 1, 2014.
“First the deadline was 2010 and then the date was postponed to September 2013. When questioned by the lG on what led to such a massive delay, DTTDC first said that the environment department had held up the project by not giving permission for tree felling. However, now that this issue has been resolved, DTTDC was forced to reveal that the agency concerned is facing financial problems. Work is almost at a standstill right now and if issues do not get resolved at the earliest, even the 2015 deadline would be impossible to meet,” informed sources. Some part of the work has been done and material for the remaining construction was supposed to come from China. Sources said that a joint venture of Gammon, C Cidade of Brazil and Tensacciai of Italy has been appointed to construct this landmark. Till September 9, 2013, around 70 per cent of the foundation had been laid, but since then barely any progress has been made.
The Signature Bridge was an ambitious project of the Sheila Dikshit Government and was announced in the year 2004 but work on it began only in 2008 at the cost of Rs1,131 crore. The project was initiated with a plan of making this a landmark bridge; the surrounding areas were to be developed as tourist destinations. The proposed bridge is being constructed across Yamuna, 600 metres downstream from the barrage at Wazirabad, and will be a bow-shaped, cable-stay structure. In April last year, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India had slammed the tourism agency for its shoddy handling of construction of the Signature Bridge. The report had noted, “Failure of the DTTDC to manage the events increased the estimated cost of the project from Rs459 crore in March 2006 to Rs1,131 crore in February 2010 (an increase of Rs672 crore).”
“The bridge will replace the existing bridge at Wazirabad. It will be a cable-stayed bridge and link NH1 near the existing T-point on the western bank with the Marginal Bund Road at Khajuri Khas on the eastern bank of the Yamuna. The bridge will have a bow-shaped steel pylon and be twice as high as Qutub Minar,” said sources.
An inquiry by the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) has found discrepancies in its ongoing construction work. Two engineers of the tourism agency have been summoned as well for clarifications by the CVC.