Barapullah Phase-III nears completion after final slab casting

The final deck slab of the Barapullah Phase-III elevated corridor was successfully cast on Monday evening. The corridor physically connects both ends of the structure across the Yamuna River, bringing one of Delhi’s most delayed infrastructure projects to the threshold of completion. The project was finally completed eleven years after work began in 2015 and nine years after its original 2017 completion deadline.

The casting involved approximately 175 cubic metres of concrete, taking the project’s cumulative concrete use to nearly 4.5 lakh cubic metres. With the final slab in place, the two sides of the Yamuna are now structurally connected through the corridor, a milestone many had come to doubt would ever arrive.

PWD Minister Parvesh Sahib Singh visited the site to mark the occasion and shared dinner with workers, engineers, and staff members who have spent years on the project. He said the moment was about far more than an engineering milestone.

“Today is not just about concrete and steel. Today is about completing a promise that Delhi had been waiting for over a decade. This final slab represents the determination of hundreds of workers and engineers who refused to let this project remain unfinished,” Singh said.

The minister said that after the current government assumed office, Barapullah Phase-III was identified as a priority project and has been continuously monitored at the highest level. He said he personally visited the site multiple times, reviewed progress regularly, and worked with officials to clear bottlenecks.

“For years, Delhiites saw deadlines come and go. After our government came to power, we decided that this project could not be allowed to remain stuck any longer,” he said.

Barapullah Phase-III was approved in 2014, and work began in 2015, with an original completion target of 2017. What followed was a protracted series of setbacks: a seven-year land acquisition dispute, environmental clearances, technical challenges associated with building a major elevated structure across the Yamuna floodplain, and prolonged administrative hurdles.

The project’s revised cost now stands at approximately Rs 1,635 crore, a significant increase from the original estimate driven by the years of delay, escalating material costs, and scope revisions forced by the various obstacles encountered along the way.

Despite the extended history of missed deadlines, the project saw accelerated progress over the past year and a half through continuous monitoring, regular inspections, and coordinated action by multiple agencies, culminating in Monday’s casting of the final slab.

Once operational, the Barapullah Phase-III corridor is expected to meaningfully improve connectivity between East and South Delhi. Commuters travelling from Mayur Vihar and adjoining areas toward Sarai Kale Khan, AIIMS, and South Delhi will benefit from largely signal-free movement, reducing travel time significantly and easing congestion at major bottlenecks, including NH-24, the DND Flyway, Ring Road, and Sarai Kale Khan interchange.

As the sun set over the Yamuna on Monday, workers who had spent years on the structure sat down with the minister for dinner at the project site.

For the workers, it was a rare moment of recognition for years of labour on a project that, for most of its life, was better known as a symbol of what Delhi’s infrastructure ambitions struggle to deliver than as something nearing completion.