Title - City may get new icon in railway overbridge

The City of Joy looks set to get a new landmark much like the two iconic bridges on the Hooghly. Chief minister Mamata Banerjee has okayed the design of the crucial 80m railway overbridge, which will join the two near ends of Kolkata’s longest elevated corridor – the 9km flyover from Paroma island to Park Circus.
    Urban development minister Firhad Hakim sounded excited on Tuesday after the CM cleared the design. “The suspension bridge will not only be a technological marvel, but also an architectural beauty. We are glad we could take the project ahead,” he said. The CM chose the design from among nine options, and it may well turn out to be Kolkata’s latest icon.
    “The overbridge was the missing link of this ambitious flyover project. The bridge itself will be a great challenge for us because it covers an 80-metre span,” said Vivek Bharadwaj, CEO of Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA), the implementing agency of the Rs 317-crore Park Circus-Paroma island elevated corridor.
    For KMDA, the technological complexity will only make the project all the more stimulating. According to rules, the overbridge must be constructed without piers in between.
    Soil testing for the bridge –that will be built over the existing Bridge No 4 – has already begun. Bharadwaj said it should be constructed in 18 months. Train services in the Park Circus section will be suspended for four hours every day – between 12 am and 4 pm – to speed up work.
    Hectic construction activity has been on since February 2010 for the 9-km flyover executed by HCC. But a separate bid was called for construction of the highly challenging overbridge and L&T eventually made it.
    The ambitious overbridge project had run into several hurdles, including design flaws. Trouble for its construction started three years ago when the railway ministry, which was supposed to build the suspension bridge, opted out of the project. The onus was shifted to KMDA, but the cost for the JNNURM-funded flyover had already been fixed at Rs 317. Therefore, fresh funds had to be generated for the overbridge.
    The Bengal government has now applied for a one-time central assistance for the Rs 70-crore suspension bridge. The Centre will pay Rs 21 crore and the state government the rest.
    The project will be the first success story in infrastructure for the Mamata Banerjee government, which is forever running into encroachment-related hurdles. KMDA has quietly removed 383 illegal settlers from the 500-metre stretch along Bridge No 4. The drive was undertaken between November 7 and 12. Each hutment was given Rs 12,000 as compensation.
    According to L&T officials, building the new bridge atop the existing one – with trains plying underneath (except for four hours between 12 am and 4 pm) – is the most difficult part of the assignment. The original brickmade overbridge will remain since the cost of dismantling would be exorbitant. A lot of time and effort would have been wasted on the demolition.