Cost up, flyover work at Garkhal delayed

Tribune News Service

Ambika Sharma

Solan, December 28

Cost escalation and single tender has delayed the construction of the much-awaited flyover at Garkhal junction, en route Kasauli, which is aimed at decongesting the five-road junction.

Negotiations held with bidder

The cost, which was initially Rs 22 cr, has escalated to Rs 26.75 cr. Negotiations have been held with the bidder to re-work this cost and the case will be put up before the board of management for seeking clearance. Mahesh Rana, Supdt engineer, RIDC

The financial bid was opened in September by the Public Works Department’s Road and Infrastructure Development Corporation (RIDC), which is executing the project.

RIDC Superintending Engineer (SE) Mahesh Rana said, “Initially, two bidders had come forward, but only one fulfilled the technicalities for the bid that was opened in September.”

“The cost, which was initially pegged at about Rs 22 crore, has escalated to Rs 26.75 crore. Negotiations have been held with the bidder to re-work this cost and the case will be put up before the board of management for seeking due clearance in view of the single tender and cost escalation,” said Rana.

It is, however, known that with the corporation with no director and staff crunch vis-à-vis the work it is handling, all works are suffering.

Officials are awaiting the board meeting for seeking various clearances, including one for this flyover, whose all other formalities have been completed.

The flyover will start from near the bus stand at Garkhal on the Garkhal-Dharampur road and extend across the valley to the far end of the Garkhal-Kasauli road. The structure will have two piers and two abutments with the central pier being 85 m high.

The flyover will prove helpful, if the traffic is diverted from the Parwanoo-Dharampur section of the National Highway-5 in case of an eventuality, as the narrow junction was inadequate to bear the traffic.

Larsen and Toubro surveyed the area in June 2022 and an estimate of Rs 27 crore was prepared initially. However, the amount was later reduced to Rs 22 crore.

Since five single-lane narrow roads converge at the junction, a flyover is direly required. Traffic snarls on these narrow roads often cause inconvenience to the tourists as well as local residents, especially in the peak tourist season.

Kasauli is a key tourist destination of people from nearby areas like Chandigarh, Punjab, Haryana and Delhi.

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