M HYDERI
NOTWITHSTANDING Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s satisfaction over the execution of developmental projects in Srinagar, six years on, construction of three bridges along the busy Hyderpora bypass is incomplete even after missing of six consecutive deadlines.
 The work started concurrently in 2006, was scheduled to be completed in 2008. Six years on, the work is incomplete but the state government satisfied.
 Though in these six years neighboring China  has set new world records in construction of bridges, one across sea and the latest feat of connecting two mountain peaks, the JK’s Roads and Building department, which was assigned work on the Srinagar Muzaffarabad highway, much before the China work seems to be heading towards a record of chronic failures.

THE CITY BRIDGES
 In 2006, as a part of the Srinagar-Jammu highway widening from two to four lanes, the National Highway Authorities of India (NHAI) had allotted a 17 KM patch of the bypass between Parimpora and Athwajan to the R&B.
 Four bridges were to be constructed along the highway stretch. While one of them was somehow completed last year, other three continue to be incomplete.
 The work on these incomplete bridges, being constructed parallel to the older ones at Tenpora, Chanapora and Lasjan, has been so slow that even the half the work, as per observers, hasn’t been completed till now.

THE MESS
 Due to the R&B’s failure to complete the bridges, the entire vehicular traffic load of the two wide highway tracks pours onto the already existing bridges at the three sites thereby leading to traffic jams on the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad highway.
 The jams are worst in the peaks hours when gridlocks stretch to over two odd kilometers or at times even more while precious time obviously goes waste. 

LEGACY OF FAILURES
Failures on the widening of the 17 kilometers highway patch, which the NHAI had sublet to JK’s R&B to see latter’s performance, are nothing new.
 A flyover which was to be constructed at the Hyderpora square, a busy junction frequented by VIPs including Chief Minister who also heads the R&B Ministry, is still incomplete.
 The government however is satisfied with the work pace. This is what one could infer from the official handouts about District Boards meetings where the CM and all the eight City MLA’s belonging to his National Conference, are understood to have expressed satisfaction over execution of developmental works in the summer Capital.

CHINA’S PRIDE
 Interestingly, in these six years the neighboring Peoples Republic of China has broken records in construction of bridges in this summer Capital.
 In June last year, China opened world's longest cross-sea bridge  -the 26.4 miles Jiaozhou Bay bridge that links China's eastern port city of Qingdao to the offshore island Huangdao.
 The road bridge, which is 110ft wide and is the longest of its kind, cost nearly £1billion to build. Incidentally, work on this bridge was started in 2006 when R&B started work on bypass bridges.
 Last month, China threw open the first highest bridge connecting two mountain peaks.  At 1,102 feet up and 3,858 feet across, the ambitious suspension bridge in China's Hunan province has become the highest and longest in the world.
 Work on this engineering marvel started in 2007, a year after the bridge and flyover work took off in Srinagar.

GOVT SPEAKS
 MoS R&B Javed Ahmed Dar while pleading the delay said there were “lot of problems coming in way of the bridge work including procurement of land and shifting of ancillaries.”
 He, however, assured that the work would soon be completed.

Lastupdate on : Fri, 13 Apr 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Fri, 13 Apr 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sat, 14 Apr 2012 00:00:00 IST