Design changes scale up underpass project cost.

The cost of constructing underpasses on the Delhi-Gurgaon expressway - one each at Rajeev Chowk, Signature Towers and IFFCO Chowk - has escalated, even before a brick has been laid. In a meeting recently at the NHAI office in Delhi, the cost was revised from Rs 779 crore to Rs 960 crore. Authorities said the hike is a result of changes in design plan.

According to MCG officials who attended the meeting, NHAI authorities have directed Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System (DIMTS), the consultant hired by MCG for this project, to make some changes in design. 'NHAI authorities feel specifications of the underpasses don't follow Union ministry of road transport and highways guidelines. Therefore, they asked DIMTS to increase their slopes. They have also decided to have escalators at the foot-overbridges to be built at each underpass,' said a MCG official.

'The increase in the length of the slope of the underpasses and installing of escalators is likely to hike the project cost by over 18%. It could go up to Rs 960 crore now,' he said.

The district administration feels the cost will rise further, if the project does not commence immediately, as it is already behind schedule, with no one sure when the actual construction can begin. In fact, even the tender process is yet to begin.

On April 1 this year, Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar had given his approval for construction of the underpasses, with Rs 224 crore the estimated cost for the one at Rajiv Chowk, Rs 248 crore for Signature Towers crossing and Rs 307 crore for IFFCO Chowk. Subsequently, local MLA and state PWD minister Rao Narbir had, on June 17, announced that actual construction work would begin in three months.

'There's no clarity on when the construction will begin. With each passing day, material and labour costs are bound to rise, and this will increase the cost of the project,' said a senior official.

TOI