Northeast Delhi flyover faces more delays, to miss October deadline

The project, launched in February last year, is already running on a revised deadline. It was initially expected to be completed by July 31, which was later extended to October

The completion of a six-lane flyover between Gagan Cinema-Nand Nagri junctions in northeast Delhi — part of a 7km signal-free corridor on Wazirabad Road from Signature Bridge to Ghaziabad border — is likely to be further delayed due to slow progress in civil works and getting tree-felling permissions, senior officials in the Public Works Department (PWD) said.

According to PWD, the under-construction flyover will start from Nand Nagri Red light junction and end near Gagan Cinema T-junction, covering 1.5km on NH-9 along Wazirabad Road. (Representational/HT File)

The project, launched in February last year, is already running on a revised deadline. It was initially expected to be completed by July 31, which was later extended to October. This deadline, too, is likely to be missed, an official associated with the project said.

“We had revised the deadline to October 2024 but the project is moving at a very slow pace and it seems that the October deadline is also unlikely to be met. We are facing twin problems of slow shifting of power utilities as well as non-availability of tree-cutting permission. Our request for tree-cutting permission is pending for over 12 months now,” the official said, asking not to be named.

However, the forest department said that PWD had illegally felled some trees for building the flyover and the matter is being investigated, leading to the alleged delay.

The project is likely to impact around 97 trees.

The entire 7km corridor, used by commuters travelling between North Delhi and Uttar Pradesh, is significant as it connects several congested colonies of northeast Delhi such as Dilshad Garden, Nand Nagri, Sarhad Puri, Gonda, Karawal Nagar, Mustafabad, and Gokalpuri. It has been designed to reduce congestion by segregating local traffic from commuters travelling between Delhi-Ghaziabad. On its completion, those commuting from Bhopura border via Signature Bridge will have a signal-free ride with the travel time reduced to half against the current time of around 30 minutes.

According to PWD, the under-construction flyover will start from Nand Nagri Red light junction and end near Gagan Cinema T-junction, covering 1.5km on NH-9 along Wazirabad Road. The Khajuri Khas intersection along this road already has a flyover.

The PWD official cited above said that around 80% of the civil work related to the project has been completed.

“The work on developing the power caps and retention wall has been completed but only 66% of girders have been erected. The deck slabs for the flyover have been added on 12 sections,” the official said.

The official added that a 240m long ramp, which will have around eight deck slabs, cannot be constructed without cutting trees. “The overall length of flyover is around 1km with a provision of 240m long ramps on either side. We had applied for tree-cutting permission in July last year.”

On these claims, a senior forest department official said trees had been felled by PWD without permission. “Permission will be processed only after this offence is investigated,” the official said, asking not to be named.

Over the last five months, between March and July, PWD has been able to add 52 girders and eight deck slabs, its progress reports show.

The project is being built at an estimated cost of ₹157.85 crore, of which ₹104.58 crore has been released as of July, the agency official informed.