Second Vivekananda bridge banks on support roads

The success of the second Vivekananda Bridge across the river Hooghly connecting the north Kolkata suburb of Dakshineswar with Bally across the river in Howrah will depend on support infrastructure.

The date of completion for the bridge is March 2007.

Support infrastructure should be ready ahead of the completion, said SS Chakraborty, chairman of Second Vivekananda Bridge Tollway Company Pvt Ltd (SVBTC), which is building the bridge under a contract awared by National Highway Authority of India (NHAI).

He said the Belghoria Expressway must be completed before the bridge was thrown open to public. Secondly, there has to be an interchange at the Dunlop crossing.

Thirdly, PWD roads in the area have to be widened to facilitate smooth flow of traffic leading to the bridge and dispersion from it.

The company has an agreement with the state government to ensure that heavy commercial vehicles were diverted to the new bridge instead of the old Bally Bridge.

"If the support infrastructure is in place, the flow of traffic will be good and the project will achieve greater success," Chakraborty pointed out.Of all the collateral infrastructure, the most important would be the 3km link road between the bridge and Belghoria Expressway.

Chakraborty insisted that everything was going according to plan and there was no hindrance whatsoever as far as the bridge was concerned.

"We are committed to complete the project within 36 month," he added.

The project cost had been pegged at Rs 646.9 crore. The promoter contribution was to the tune of Rs 126 crore. NHAI had given a capital grant of Rs 120 crore.

A consortium of bankers, including 14 public sector banks, had given a loan of Rs 409 crore, while PricewaterhouseCoopers had been appointed financial advisors.

Chakraborty said the project would involve 15 years of debt servicing. On completion of the bridge, all commercial vehicles now taking the Bally Bridge would be diverted to the new one and would have to pay user charges. After completion of 27 years, the project would be handed over to NHAI.