123 crore saved, phase II of Vikaspuri elevated road opens

NEW DELHI: The second part of the 23.6km-long Vikaspuri-Wazirabad signal-free corridor, a stretch of 3.9km from Mangolpuri to Madhuban Chowk, was thrown open to the public on Sunday. The public works department has saved Rs 123.05 crore in the construction of this phase, in addition to the Rs 104 crore in the first phase from Prem Bari to Azadpur inaugurated in November 2015.
The sanctioned cost of this stretch was Rs 423.05 crore and it was completed for Rs 300 crore. Inaugurating the corridor, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal thanked former CM Sheila Dikshit for commissioning the project. He said the money saved in this project would be used to waive user charges at all government hospitals from February 1 and medicines and diagnostic tests would be made free of cost.
This corridor is one of the few ongoing projects that the government is looking to complete by the middle of this year. PWD minister Satyendar Jain had announced that till these projects were completed, no new flyover or elevated road project would be taken up. In fact, the government has shifted focus on redesigning roads with emphasis on pedestrian and non-motorised vehicle mobility.
"Several proposals have been put on the backburner. After the ongoing works are completed, the focus will shift on maintenance and on redesigning of 11 major roads. This model will then be replicated across Delhi," said a senior official.
The huge savings are a result of a new design implemented by PWD. This will also be followed for similar elevated corridors in future. PWD engineer-in-chief Sarvagya Srivastava explained: "A single pillar of 3mX3m, supporting the 24m-wide deck, resulted in a saving of at least 20-25% of the initial estimate. Against a normal cost of Rs 60,000 per sq m, the new design required only Rs 42,000-43,000 per sq m."
To create the structure, a 6m-wide central segment, known as the spine, was first suspended over a pillar. After this, two segments, both 9m each, were suspended on either side of the spine and these three pieces were then connected through cables in a process known as stressing to make one monolithic structure. Because the main structure was light, the resultant pillar on which it had to be supported could be reduced in size.
Sources said PWD will be saving at least 50-60% of the proposed cost of the entire project by the time it is completed. Jain said that against a deadline of December 31, 2015, which he had fixed for the completion of the project, could not be met due to certain issues. However, most of the signal-free corridor would be made operational within the next few months.
The next section that is expected to be inaugurated, probably within this month itself, is from Mukarba to Madhuban Chowk. Another major component of the project, a flyover at Burari, will also be ready by February. Two other flyovers and another elevated stretch from Vikaspuri to Meera Bagh will take some more time. Once the entire stretch is made signal-free, the travel time on this road will come down from the existing 1.15 hours during non-peak hours to about 25 minutes.