Rao Tula Ram flyover in Delhi to open soon! After a long delay of almost two years, with several deadlines being missed, the Rao Tula Ram (RTR) flyover in the national capital is all set to be completed by June 30. The RTR flyover will connect South Delhi to Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport. The officials of the Public Works Department (PWD) were quoted in a recent IE report saying that the work on the RTR flyover will be completed by the end of this month. The flyover will seamlessly connect South Delhi areas like Hauz Khas, Saket and Mehrauli to the IGI airport, decongesting the busy roads of this region, which experience heavy traffic congestion especially during peak hours.
Benefits of the RTR flyover:
The RTR flyover extends from Munirka to the Army RR Hospital on the Outer Ring Road in Delhi. Besides making the travel easier to and from the IGI airport, the flyover is expected to decongest the severely congested Outer Ring Road, RTR Marg as well as Ring Road. The roads around JNU, Munirka, Vasant Vihar as well as RK Puram are also expected to see witness lesser traffic. Once the flyover will be ready, over one lakh residents will benefit from it on an everyday basis. It will also reduce the airport-bound traffic congestion on the roads to a great extent.
The RTR flyover, after missing as many as five deadlines, is now finally set to be completed by June 30, however, the official date of completion is set as December 31, 2019, according to the PWD website. But the officials of the department working for the flyover project stated that it will be completed in the coming days as almost 99% of the work has been done. They added that the structure has been built and the carpeting of the flyover has been done. GP Bhansal, Superintending Engineer, Flyover Circle 4, PWD was quoted in the report saying that the painting of the flyover, installation of streetlights, road signages, and carpeting of the road below will be completed soon.
The flyover project began in the month of November 2014 with a budget of Rs 278 crore and was scheduled to be completed in the year 2016. According to Bhansal, the construction got delayed as there were several court cases by the residents of the area. Moreover, permission was required for felling trees, which took some time. He added that the contractor was also financially incompetent and in the year 2017, asked for an extension due to a financial crunch.
The PWD was granted permission to cut the trees and the petitions filed by residents were dismissed by the Delhi High Court. After further delays by the contractor in the year 2018, the PWD slapped the contractor with a penalty. Only 30% of the construction work was completed till the month of November 2018, after which the construction picked up some pace. By the month of March 31, 70% of the work was complete and the construction of a skywalk, an underpass in BJ Marg, Ring Road is also underway.
