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LG sends message to AAP, takes charge of Signature Bridge project

The directions for a monthly report were issued after the LG visited the construction site of the bridge on Saturday.

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The Signature Bridge project which has been underway since 2010 and has missed several deadlines is now expected to be completed by April 2017
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Giving a strong message to Aam Aadmi Party-led Delhi government, the newly appointed Lieutenant Governor (LG) Anil Baijal took charge of long pending completion of Signature Bridge, asking the state government to provide a monthly progress report on the issue.

The directions for a monthly report were issued after the LG visited the construction site of the bridge on Saturday.

"The LG has directed the officers concerned to send to him a monthly-progress report of the bridge. The move is intended at monitoring timely completion of the project which was conceptualised in 2004 and is being executed by the Delhi Tourism Department," a senior official said.

The under-construction bridge near Wazirabad, which has missed several deadlines, is now expected to be completed by April 2017. The work tender for project was awarded in February 2010 during the regime of the then Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit.

Earlier this month, city's Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia had ordered all HoDs to submit a weekly status report of all important proposals and projects to the concerned ministers and the copy of the same to be sent to the Lt Governor and Chief Minister.

Last year in September, the AAP government had set a "final" deadline of April 2017 after the tourism minister Kapil Mishra inspected the site to check on the progress.

Recently, the Delhi government extended the deadline for completion of project by five months from April to September this year. The national capital is waiting to have more such bridges to improve the connectivity.

In the past decade, only one bridge has come up — the one at Geeta Colony in 2008. Three more are in the pipeline — Signature Bridge, Barapullah Phase III and one near Kalindi Kunj (under the UP government).

The project, often called a "white elephant" by the current AAP government whose construction it could not cancel due to the amount of work already put into it, was meant to be showcased during the 2010 Commonwealth Games. It is being built on the lines of the London Bridge.

While the previous government had allocated a budget of Rs 1,131 crore for Signature Bridge, Rs 1,225 crore has been spent on the project so far. The delays have shot up its estimated cost from Rs 887 crore to Rs 1,594 crore.

In February last year, the government had set a deadline for 2016 end. But then the deadline was extended again.

The Delhi Tourism and Transport Development Corporation, which is implementing the project had cited various reasons for the delay. Initially, they said that there was a delay from the forest clearance, followed by a financial crisis with the contractor, Gammon.

But senior officials in the government claimed that the major issue was with the Chinese firm from which the material was being sourced.

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