Kochi: Along with the opening of the reconstructed North railway overbridge scheduled for mid December, the much-delayed Ponnurunni RoB will also be commissioned this month.
Both overbridges will ease traffic management and regulations that were introduced as part of the Kochi Metro Rail construction.
The Ponnurunni RoB project was entrusted to the Roads and Bridges Corporation Kerala (RBDCK) in April 2011. Work was delayed due to the usual land acquisition problems and scarcity of funds. The agency had to stop work for several months.
Later, the Urban Development Ministry released funds, but the scheduled plan and alignment were changed as per the Centre's guidelines. For this, an additional 30 cents of land on the Vyttila side had to be acquired which led to further delays.
The additional amount for land acquisition was realised from the funds allotted by the State Government for the Atlantis RoB project.
“Construction work is progressing at a fast pace. The only work remaining is the tarring of the bridge. Construction of the approach roads is also nearing completion. The new RoB with 18 spans has a width of eight metres,” said a top official.
The new overbridge will allow easy passage from Vyttila to Thammanam, Palarivattam and Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium.
