New Delhi: After missing several
deadlines, the crucial Barapullah Nallah elevated road,
linking the Commonwealth Games Village in east Delhi with the
Jawaharlal Nehru stadium was finally inaugurated on Friday.
The four-km-long corridor, the first elevated road in
the city, will now be exclusively used for ferrying Games
participants from the athletes' village near Akshardham
temple to the main venue and vice versa.
It will be a six-seven minute-drive for the athletes
and other officials staying in the Games Village to reach the
Jawaharlal Nehru stadium using the elevated road which
otherwise would have taken nearly 40 minutes.
Delhi PWD Minister Raj Kumar Chouhan, whose department
has constructed the showpiece infrastructure, flagged off 240
low floor airconditioned buses from the Saraikale Khan side of
the road to the stadium. The road will be opened for general
traffic after the Games.
"I am proud to dedicate the elevated road to the
people of the city. After the Games, it will provide a key
link between east Delhi and south Delhi," he said.
Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit has already announced
that the elevated road will further be extended up to INA
market so that people from east Delhi and Noida can reach
south Delhi without using the Ring Road.
Built at a cost of Rs 550 crore on a Nullah bed, the
road criss crosses the Ring Road, Railway tracks near
Nizamuddin Railway station, Mathura Road and Lala Lajpat Rai
Marg.
"At Mathura Road, the hight of the road has been kept
20 meters above the bed of the drain to maintain proper
visibility of heritage structures near Nizamuddin," an
official said.
The project has already missed several deadlines and
the city government had faced criticism for the persistent
delay in its completion. PWD officials blamed "unprecedented
rains" for the delay.
Officials claimed the department has saved nearly Rs
25 crore in project out of the allocated amount.
They said the amount could be saved due optimisation
and reduction in the prices of raw material like cement and
steel during last one and half years.
The actual work in the project was started in December
2008.
PTI
First Published: Friday, September 24, 2010, 22:09