KOCHI: Even as the proposal for a second RoB in Edappally is under way, the opening of the main RoB, the work for which had started six years ago, is still lagging behind. “Presently, we are awaiting sanction from the National Highways division of the PWD for the amount of tar that is supposed to be used on the approach roads,” said councillor Mahesh Kumar. He said the approach roads have only been sanctioned 2-cm-thick of tar on both sides presently and that they had sent a revised proposal to the NH to sanction more tar for the road.“Does not the NH authorities realise that if only 2-cm-thick of tar is used, the work on the bridge is going to be a headache as it demands constant maintenance works on a regular basis. A large chunk of the traffic in Kochi will go through this road which leads to the Vallarpadom terminal. There has to be proper planning for this or it would not be effective,” Mahesh said.Also, the NH authorities are being blamed for not doing most of the work which they have been allotted.“The Kunnanpuram junction which is presently congested during the peak hours has to be developed. The medians on the sides of the roads have still not been built. The NH authorities have failed to do that till now. We have also been bringing the issue to the notice of the ministry in the past few months. But nothing has been done in this regard,” Mahesh said.NH Division Engineer R Rexy said: “We are awaiting the sanction from Delhi. Until it is received, we cannot do anything.” also, contractors complain that there are other aspects of the bridge that are being ignored by the NH division. “ Earlier, it was decided that side protection bars of the bridge would be made of concrete. But, now they are planning to put steel bars there. It is still a proposal. Nothing yet has been done on it. Also, the service roads which have to be widened before the opening of the bridge have still not been widened,” Rexy said .Besides, the engineers and contractors are complaining that the revised estimate of the entire `36-crore project has still not been received from the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.The presence of a tower line is yet another barrier that is coming in the way of the smooth completion of the approach road of the Edappally RoB. “It was only recently that we understood that the tower line would be a hindrance. For the smooth flow of traffic on the NH, there should be a specific horizontal distance between the road and the tower line,” councillor Mahesh Kumar said.
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