Uncertainty continues to loom over the inauguration of the steel flyover at Shivananda Circle by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP).
Earlier, the civic body decided to open the flyover on August 15, but after the recent rains, asphalting work on the stretch has not been completed, said senior BBMP officials.
“We had decided to open the flyover to the public on Independence Day, but have not been able to finish asphalting of the stretch owing to the rains. We need clear weather to complete the work. Starting Friday, we will start the asphalting work and will try to complete it soon,” the official added.
After building the skeleton of the flyover, BBMP ran into land acquisition problems, grounding the project. It had to acquire 500 sq.m of land towards the Seshadripuram railway underpass and this ran into legal challenges. Days before the project was to be completed in November 2021, BBMP opted for the design change to make do with the available land.
The flyover project was conceived in 2011 and the State Cabinet approved ₹19.8 crore in 2017. Later, the project cost shot up to ₹39.5 crore as the earlier planned 326-metre long flyover had to be extended to 492.84 metres.
If everything is done on time, the civic body plans to get Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai to inaugurate the flyover. Now, BBMP is also asphalting the service road under the flyover where the construction work is completed. “The road needs to be repaired on both sides of the flyover. Most of the work is done and we will enable public use in a phased manner without causing inconvenience to the motorists,” a BBMP official said.