SAMBALPUR: Work on the flyover connecting Church Colony with Nelson Mandela Chowk in the city will be completed by September next year.
Executive Engineer of PWD, Division I, Sambalpur, Bijay Mohanty said Panda Infraproject Limited, construction firm which is executing the project, had been asked to complete it by March next year. However, as per the programme submitted by the firm, the target has been revised to September 2020.
At present, work on laying of slabs is underway. While laying of slabs from Church Colony to Laxmi
Talkies Chowk has already been completed, work from Nelson Mandela side will begin soon.
Work on the 1,880 metre-long flyover was started in March, 2016. Initially, it was proposed to construct 1,540 metre-long flyover from Church Colony to Head Post Office through Laxmi Talkies Chowk here.
The estimated cost for construction of the 1,540-metre flyover was Rs 62 crore. However, later the design was changed and the length of the flyover was increased to 1,880 metre and the estimated cost revised to Rs 81 crore.
Prior to change in the design, PWD had set a target to complete the construction of the flyover within 15 months.
However, PWD had reportedly not set a new deadline for completion of the project after its design was changed.
In 2017, work on the flyover remained suspended for around two months after a portion of under-construction flyover at Bomikhal in Bhubaneswar, also executed by Panda Infraproject Limited, collapsed on September 10.
Though work on the project resumed in November, 2017, the work has been moving at a snail’s place.
The route on which the flyover is being constructed is one of the busiest in the city.