Kochi: The public infrastructure projects are often in the news for their time and cost overruns, but the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has completed yet another project well below the estimate. The approximate completion cost of the Edappally flyover, set to be inaugurated by works minister G. Sudhakaran on Sunday, is Rs 38 crore as against the estimated cost of Rs 49 crore, thus saving Rs 11 crore. Earlier, the corporation constructed Pachalam RoB for around Rs 39.5 crore against the estimated cost of Rs 52.70 crore, saving Rs 13 crore on the exchequer.
“The cost saving was achieved by adopting an economical and innovative design by P. K. Aravindan of IIT, Chennai,” a DMRC spokesperson said. While the Edapally RoB, the foundation-stone of which was laid in January 2015, was completed in 20 months, the Pachalam RoB was constructed in 12 months. Originally, the Edappally flyover proposal was for a total cost of Rs 108.77 crore, which included Rs 54.54 crore towards land acquisition.
The total length of the flyover is 433 meters out of which 283 metres is a bridge structure. The flyover has a central span of 35 metres with a vertical clearance of 5.5 metres. Meanwhile, the DMRC has proposed an underpass too at the Edapally Junction – for facilitating traffic flow from NH-17 to NH 47 for “completely solving the traffic congestion issue.” “We’ve given a provision for the same should the government want to construct the underpass in the future,” the official said.
