While the ITD Cementation Private Limited and Gammon India Limited have completed the formalities, Omaxe has been given time to complete its paperwork.

The Chandigarh Administration plans to appoint ‘Owners Engineers’ (consultants) for the mega project, regarding which Consulting Engineers and SN Bhobe have come forward and shown interest in being appointed as the consultants for the project.

“We will initiate scrutiny of the companies’ profiles tomorrow after which they will be shortlisted for constructing the underpasses and appointing the consultants. The Owners Engineers will be appointed to keep advising us on the project”, said Mohanjit Singh, Chairman, Chandigarh Housing Board.

The administration will construct four underpasses at the Madhya Marg. Each underpass would be approximately 400 metres long, 7.5 metre wide dual carriageway with 1:30 slope.

A 7.5-metre wide fast carriageway and six meters wide slow carriageway along both sides of the underpass on the surface will increase the existing six-lane dual carriageway to eight-lane carriageway. A sump well of 167 cubic metre capacity would be created for the drainage of rain water so as to avoid flooding in the underpass. The estimated cost for construction of each underpass including civil, electrical, drainage, landscaping works and shifting of utilities and services is about Rs 8 crore.

The Chandigarh Administration had last year planned to construct underpasses at various places in the city in order to deal with severe traffic congestion. Chandigarh, which is spread over an area of 114 sq km has a population of about 10.78 lakh, besides Panchkula with a population of about 3 lakh and Mohali with 4-lakh population.

There are around 7 lakh registered vehicles in the city. Due to rapid increase in vehicles coupled with marginal increase in road infrastructure, traffic and transportation problems had been growing rapidly. The Madhya Marg, Dakshin Marg, Himalaya Marg and Jan Marg cater to maximum traffic. The junctions with perennial traffic congestions include Press lightpoint (Junction 20), Kisan Bhawan Chowk (Junction 38), Picaddily Chowk (Junction 34), Transport Chowk (Junction 43), Industrial Area Phase-I,II, Sector 29-30 roundabout and the Matka Chowk.

A study conducted by the Engineering Department of UT Administration revealed that around 36,000 vehicles pass through the Press lightpoint at Madhya Marg during peak hours. With the construction of the underpasses, the congestion at Press lightpoint is likely to reduce by almost 50 per cent.

Facelift for existing ones
Sector 17-22 underpass: The underpass is in quite a bad shape and will be renovated soon. In a recent meeting chaired by the UT Adviser to the Administrator, Chief Architect said the renovation and lighting of Sector 17-22 underpass has been discussed and the proposal will sent to the Municipal Corporation soon.