Delhi to get Signature Bridge in October

India's first asymmetrical cable-stayed Signature Bridge connecting the Outer Ring Road with Wazirabad will open by October end, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said on Thursday.

"The Delhi Cabinet cleared the proposal for the final payment for Signature Bridge. Ninety-six per cent of the work is already complete. Now there should be no hurdles in opening the bridge by October 31," Sisodia tweeted.

The signature bridge project was approved in 1997 after an accident on the narrow Wazirabad bridge wherein a school bus fell into the Yamuna, killing 22 children.

The completion of the bridge has been delayed by several years due to inadequate funds.

Even the project cost has increased from Rs 1,100 crore to Rs 1,575 crore, becoming a major cause of concern for the Public Works Department. The PWD has released Rs 1,244 crore so far.

The project was conceptualised in 2004 and got the nod from the Delhi cabinet in 2007. The first deadline was fixed ahead of the 2010 Commonwealth Games but it was revised to 2013.

The project deadline was again pushed to June 2016 and then to July 2017, which was further pushed to December 2017.

The Central Public Works Department (CPWD) had done a third party evaluation following a difference of opinion between the PWD and Delhi Tourism and Transportation Development Corporation Limited engineers on quantity and justification for the escalated cost.The bridge, once completed, will take vehicular pressure off the existing Wazirabad bridge. It will also connect the Outer Ring Road on the western bank of the river with Wazirabad Road on the eastern side.

--IANS

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