AMC's poor planning halts city's longest flyover

Time of India

3 days ago

Ahmedabad: In what has become a recurring pattern of poor planning and execution, the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) has once again stumbled in delivering critical infrastructure.
This time its the city's longest flyover, the 2.5-km Naroda Patiya flyover, which now mired in delays due to unresolved land and environmental clearance issues.
Progress on the project, hailed as a major development for eastern Ahmedabad, has been halted by the forest department, which has refused to allow further construction until compensation for 1.3 hectares of forest land is provided. In addition, 143 trees located on the designated land cannot be felled until re-plantation land is allocated, in accordance with state forest regulations.
This bureaucratic stand-off, stemming from the AMC's failure to secure the necessary clearances before starting construction, now threatens to derail the project timeline and inconvenience thousands of commuters.
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The flyover — from Naroda Patiya to Galaxy Char Rasta — was approved on Aug 23, 2021, by the AMC's road and building committee at an estimated cost of Rs 197.98 crore. It was conceived as a merger of three earlier proposed flyovers in the eastern corridor.
Construction began on July 17, 2023, with a 36-month deadline set for July 2026. But as of March 1, 2025, only 36.8% of the work had been completed.
"The bridge alignment cuts through forest land near Devi Cinema, and without fulfilling the re-plantation and land compensation clauses, the forest department has rightly refused to permit further work," an AMC official admitted.
While work continues on other sections, the deadlock over forest land casts serious doubt on whether the project will be completed on time.
The Naroda Patiya debacle is far from an isolated case. Over the past decade, AMC and AUDA (Ahmedabad Urban Development Authority) have routinely failed to deliver flyovers, underpasses, and railway bridges on schedule. Cost overruns, design changes mid-construction, and inter-agency coordination failures plague nearly every project.
The Income Tax flyover was delayed due to post-approval design changes, inflating costs by Rs 10 crore.
The Ranip GST flyover was held up for two years due to issues with railway land acquisition. The Ajit Mill Junction flyover faced a year-long delay due to flawed design.
The Pallav Crossroads and Dahegam Circle flyovers were both delayed by over two years due to utility and land clearance hurdles. The Panjrapol flyover suffered a late start and ongoing delays due to changes in direction and design.
Each project follows a similar script — work begins with much fanfare, foreseeable issues are overlooked, deadlines are missed, budgets balloon, and commuters are left to suffer the consequences.
Box: Sinking credibility
Infrastructure Start Date Proposed Duration Progress (%)
Sattadhar Flyover Bridge Aug 28, 2023 26 months 55
Naroda Patiya Junction Flyover July 17, 2023 36 months 37
Bootbhawani Railway Overbridge Aug 8, 2023 26 months 53
Makarba-SG Highway Bridge Sep 30, 2022 26 months 89
Hebatpur Railway Overbridge Feb 13, 2023 26 months 60
Vadaj Junction Flyover Bridge July 28, 2023 30 months 23
Panjrapol Junction Flyover Bridge Mar 16, 2024 26 months 0.75
Vandemataram Railway Underpass Mar 16, 2024 18 months 2
Ellisbridge Repair and Rehabilitation Sep 11, 2024 12 months 26