Koramangala flyover: “Complete construction by end of this year”

Ejipura- Koramangala flyover is expected to be completed by this year-end, as the High Court of Karnataka on Tuesday permitted Simplex Infrastructure Ltd. to file an affidavit undertaking to complete the much-delayed project in a time-bound manner.

Ejipura- Koramangala flyover is expected to be completed by this year-end, as the High Court of Karnataka on Tuesday permitted Simplex Infrastructure Ltd. to file an affidavit undertaking to complete the much-delayed project in a time-bound manner.

Ejipura-Kendriya Sadan flyover (Twitter/Gaurav Gupta @BBMPCOMM)

The new development came after the company had approached the Karnataka high court challenging the termination of the contract by Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) following a February 17, 2022, interim order passed by the court [Adinarayan Shetty v. State of Karnataka and Ors].

The project

The 2.5 km flyover between Ejipura and Kendriya Sadan junction in Koramangala was slow, to begin with, the Kolkata-based construction firm Simplex Infrastructure Limited missed multiple deadlines despite several warnings and even served two notices. With the construction taken up in May 2017 and the 30-month deadline ending in November 2019, so far only 42.83% of the ₹204-crore project had been completed. The company had even failed to complete the project even after the BBMP extended the deadline till December 2020 by imposing a penalty for the delay.

Slow and tardy construction has wreaked havoc around the area with work having come to halt, the space between the columns has turned into a garbage dump with shrunk roads, abandoned excavations and traffic bottleneck on the entire stretch.

A Division Bench of Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi and Justice SR Krishna Kumar expressed its unhappiness with the respondent company and observed that it would monitor the progress of the construction of the flyover while hearing a PIL petition filed by 70-year-old Adinarayana Shetty, a resident of Koramangala, who had complained about the hardship caused to the public due to incomplete flyover project.

Simplex infrastructure

Struggling to stay afloat the company is working on stressed resolution plans with banks to avoid being referred to the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) as it has started defaulting on bank loans.

The company had also requested the bench to recall the interim order, in which the court had directed the BBMP to register a complaint with the police against the company for misappropriation of public money for not completing the 2.5 km long flyover.

Earlier, the United Bank of India (UBI), the leader of a consortium of 28 lenders, had identified the Simplex Infra account as a 'non-performing asset (NPA) in the third quarter of FY20. And as of January 2020, the company was said to have an outstanding borrowing of ₹3600 crore.

The court said that it is permitting the company to submit the undertaking on completing the flyover by the end of the year considering the fact that the process of engaging a new agency to complete the flyover may further delay the project and the immediate requirement of completion of the project in the public interest.

The bench adjourned further hearing till April 4.