NEW DELHI: The underpass project linked with the Rao Tula Ram Marg flyover construction will finally get untangled from the problem related to high-tension wires in the vicinity. Work on around 100 metres of the underpass on San Martin Marg had been held up due to the railways’ reluctance to move the power lines feeding a traction sub-station located near the project. The Public Works Department announced that Northern Railways has now issued the tender for the work of shifting the electricity lines.“We expect the whole complicated process of shifting the high-tension wires to be over in around two months,” a PWD official said on Wednesday. In November 2015, PWD began constructing a 1.2-kilometre underpass from Benito Juarez Road to San Martin Marg passing under Outer Ring Road . In this time, it was able to complete only 35% of the project that is designed to take vehicular load from Indira Gandhi International Airport off Outer Ring Road. The delay has resulted in a project cost escalation of Rs 40 crore.Construction work remained struck for over two years and a half because of non-shifting of the power cables. “There was a dispute between discom BSES and Northern Railways about the jurisdiction over the 220 KV lines,” revealed an official overseeing the project. “Both claimed the cables belonged to the other. Now finally, the railways has admitted to being the owners.”The underpass project was conceived of in 2013 alongside the skywalk taking pedestrians directly to the Durgabai Deshmukh South Campus station of Delhi Metro . The original project cost was estimated at Rs 102.4 crore, but the delay, cost of shifting utilities and tree cutting have inflated it to Rs 143.8 crore. “Most of the cost escalation is due to the complicated shifting of utilities belonging to agencies like Delhi Jal Board, BSES and MTNL. We will not be accommodating any more cost increase after this,” the official said.Traffic police have told PWD that it will give the go ahead to dig the portion under Outer Ring Road only after the work on the sister project of the RTR flyover is completed. PWD, therefore, has been focusing on constructing the approach to the tunnel on Benito Juarez Road and San Martin Marg.Work on the RTR flyover, meanwhile, is also languishing. Only 20 of the planned 72 spans of the elevated roadway have been erected so far. “There was a problem related to finances, but it has been resolved and should no longer hamper the pace of construction,” claimed a PWD official.

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