Ongoing work on five bridges and an underpass likely to be over by December 31.
Commuting between eastern and western parts of Ahmedabad is expected to become much easier in January as the ongoing work on six projects — for bridges, a flyover and an underpass — is likely to be over by December 31.
The six projects taken together will cost Rs 189. 31 crore. They are: an underpass near Doctors House, Wadaj; Dudheswar river bridge; road overbridge connecting Girdharnagar and Jajipura in Shahibagh; another road overbridge at Gota; and flyovers at Jamalpur crossroads and Soni ni Chali in eastern Ahmedabad.
Sources in the Ahmedabad municipal corporation (AMC) said the civic body expects to open the bridges, overbridges, flyover and the underpass for use by the public after their inauguration in mid-January.
The news would cheer up city residents as most of the projects have overshot their deadlines. The delay in completion of the construction work has been causing traffic congestion at several places as the contractors had failed to cordon off the work site. Also, if the Wadaj-Dudheswar river bridge is completed on time, it will speed up the launch of construction work on a BRTS corridor connecting Wadaj and Dariyapur using the bridge.
A senior AMC official said the six projects, when opened for public use, will go a long way towards easing traffic congestion. "There will be no waiting at several crossroads which would mean use of less fuel," the official said. "The new bridges and flyovers will also help bring down the pollution level in the city."
The AMC, incidentally, is in the process of trading for carbon credits. A senior official of the civic body said that they are working on a plan to earn carbon credits for around 17 such projects, including bridges and flyovers, 5 sewer pumping stations, BRTS projects, green landscaping, AMTS buses and conversion of petrol-using AMTS buses to CNG-using vehicles.
Of these, the AMC has submitted the plan for 6 projects to the state government and the plan for one project will be submitted to the government of India for further action.
The AMC had taken up 22 projects across the city to ease movement within the city. Most of the projects have been completed while six will be inaugurated in mid-January.
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