BANGALORE: So near, yet so far. That has been the fate of those who have to brave the traffic snarls around two of the busy intersections in the city.

The Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) has identified two new contractors to complete the unfinished flyovers at the Airport Road-Indiranagar 100 Feet Road-Inner Ring Road junction, and near Jayadeva Hospital. They will be East-West Building Corporation and Gammon India, both with long years of experience in major infrastructure projects.

Litigation held up restarting of work on these two flyovers since February this year. Both were to be completed by April 2004. The Uttar Pradesh State Bridge Corporation (UPSBC), which was building the Airport Road flyover, abandoned the work after a dispute with the BDA, reportedly over payment. This effectively stalled the work at Jayadeva Hospital as well.

The UPSBC went to court over this dispute and an appeal is pending with the Karnataka High Court. The judgment is reserved for this week and if it is in the BDA's favour, the BDA will complete both the flyovers within eight months after work orders are issued to the new contractors, according to the BDA Commissioner, M.N. Vidyashankar.

Cost escalation will be a factor BDA will have to content with. To complete the Jayadeva flyover, it may have to spend Rs. 11 crores more. Financial bids for the Airport Road flyover are yet to be examined, but the cost may be around Rs. 26 crores, being a larger project.

Award for Hebbal flyover

However, BDA has something to cheer. The superstructure of the Hebbal Flyover has won the first prize in the 9th Outstanding Bridges National Awards Competition instituted by the Indian Institution of Bridge Engineers. The Hebbal Flyover built by Gammon India is one of the largest in South Asia. It has four loops with a total of six lanes allowing traffic entering the city and moving out of it to the highways with greater ease.

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