Kolkata: The proposed EM Bypass to New Town connecting flyover project is all set to roll on. State finance minister Swapan Dasgupta on Monday announced a funding outlay of Rs 900 crore setting up the flyover which will ease traffic and improve city connectivity.“Connectivity of New Town area with Central Kolkata is poor. I propose construction of a 7.4 km long Chingrighata – New Town elevated corridor with the funding outlay of around Rs 900 crore,” Dasgupta said during his budget presentation at the state assembly on Monday.Dasgupta, in his budget speech, said that the corridor linking EM Bypass to Salt Lake Sector V will relieve congestion and improve connectivity to New Town. “This corridor will have ramps, elevated parking base, noise barriers, bridge health monitoring system and CCTV surveillance,” Dasgupta said.Sources from the state secretariat said that the Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA), will now send the final detail project report to the state finance department for administrative approval following which tenders would be floated to select an agency to construct the flyover.Conceptualised by the state government back in 2013, it was initially supposed that the flyover will take up from Metropolitan crossing and fully move over the East Kolkata wetlands before terminating at New Town. Later, its alignment plan was changed following objections from green activists and it was decided that the flyover will start from Metropolitan crossing and will cross Chinrighata crossing and move over Salt Lake Bypass and Sector V parallel to the metro alignment beside, thereby avoiding the wetlands. The national wetlands committee under the ministry of environment, forest and climate change, approved the revised alignment designed by KMDA as the final DPR was prepared.The previous Trinamool govt had announced a funding of Rs 727 crore to set up the flyover. The World Bank was approached for funding the flyover project and funding options from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) was also explored but no further development took place to execute the plan.As per the plan, the four-lane flyover is to take off from near Metropolitan crossing and will move over Chingrighata, Salt Lake Bypass, Sector V and Mahisbathan, crossing over a very small portion of the wetlands before finally ending at street no 2222 of New Town bordering Mahisbathan. The flyover will have connecting up and down arms to and from Sector V.With the aim to reduce traffic pressure in the city’s arterial roads, Ro Ro terminals have been proposed at Shalimar -Garden Reach. “Modal shift to river from freight can substantially reduce road congestion in Kolkata municipal area as well as cost of transport and emission, it is proposed to build Ro Ro terminals at Shalimar Garden Reach stretch. This will reduce traffic pressures on Vidyasagar setu and arterial roads in both Kolkata and Howrah,” Dasgupta said in his budget speech.
