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Funds crunch, a road block for overbridge project

PUDUCHERRY: Construction work of the Rs 27-crore road overbridge (ROB) along the alignment of the Uppanar Drain (UD), has been put on temporary hold owing to paucity of funds, according to a senior government official.

“The contractor assigned for the work has temporarily put on hold the work from the beginning of this year. The government had to pay him Rs. 4 crore,” he told The Hindu.

The work for laying the 7.3-km-long bridge was conceived in December 2006 and was slated to be completed over a period of 24 months. However, the actual work started in March 2007 and work to construct the piles continued till December, a senior official said.

So far, out of the 71 piles required to construct the bridge, only 21 were constructed, he said. The government had approached the Housing Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO) for funding the project, he added. “The agency had already sanctioned the amount.

However, the amount had been clubbed with the funding for eight other infrastructure projects. We expect to start the work in another two months,” he pointed out.

The ROB was planned to provide a hassle- free traffic movement from Kamaraj Salai to Marimalai Adigal Salai with a concrete road over the UD canal, the main carriageway for stormwater drain. In first phase, it was planned to have a road overbridge from Balaji Theatre Junction, near Thiruvalluvar Salai, and New Town Theatre in Maraimalai Adigal Salai along the Uppanar. In the second phase, the project was planned to be extended from Balaji Theatre junction to Kokkupark on ECR and New Town Theatre junction to Colas Nagar on the Cuddalore Road.

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