Half-finished flyover work means South B'luru-IT hub won’t be signal-free for two years

The partly ready flyover linking South Bengaluru and the IT hubs of Whitefield and Electronics City is likely to remain a showpiece for at least two years.

While the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (BMRCL) has nearly completed the elevated stretch, its ramps are far from ready. Motorists may, therefore, have to wait longer to experience signal-free travel between Central Silk Board and Ragigudda junction.

A spot visit showed the flyover arms were mostly complete on both sides between Marenahalli bus stop and Jayadeva hospital. But construction of the viaduct and cantilever arms in at least two launching gantries within 200 metres of the hospital are pending.

While the flyover work is half complete between Central Silk Board and BTM Layout, what’s sure to delay the 3.35-km structure is the slow progress at Central Silk Board where the metro is building a 2.8-km loop and ramps to be integrated with the road-metro flyover.

The construction company has piled up materials for flyover piers on one side of the Silk Board junction.

Going by Namma Metro’s schedule, the 19-km metro project between RV Road and Bommasandra, which passes through Central Silk Board, is likely to be completed much before the 3.35-km flyover is ready.

While the metro project is targetted to be ready by mid-2023, the flyover, expected to provide direct access to Electronics City, HSR Layout and BTM Layout, is likely to be ready only in 2024.

The 3.35-km flyover is part of the 6.34-km rail-metro project awarded to HCC and URC Constructions Pvt Ltd in June 2017, costing Rs 797 crore.

The 2.8-km loop and ramps are a separate contract, which was awarded to Afcons Infrastructure Ltd in May last year along with the 9.85-km metro project on the Outer Ring Road at a cost of Rs 785.24 crore.

Delay in building a loop and four ramps at Central Silk Board is due to multiple reasons. First, the BMRCL spent at least three years to award the work as it was unhappy with the bids. Even after the work was awarded a year ago, metro authorities are yet to get approvals to axe trees.

So far, Afcons has started work only on three of the five ramps. While work has begun on loop ‘A’ towards Electronics City and loop ‘C’ towards HSR Layout, there has not been much progress on loop ‘D’ (from HSR Layout to BTM Layout). Worse, the BMRCL is yet to start work on loop ‘B’ (from BTM Layout to Electronics City and HSR Layout) and loop ‘E’ (from HSR Layout to BTM Layout).