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This underpass consists of two sections – a two-lane box and 3-lane box. The two-lane section, which is complete, will carry traffic moving from ITO-Ring Road towards Bhairon Marg while the 3-lane section, which is under construction, will take vehicles from Bhairon Marg towards Ring Road, the official said.

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This 28m stretch is being built using box-push technology, but work stopped after two concrete boxes on the railway lines shifted and sank due to persistent waterlogging during the 2023 floods.

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This corridor was initially supposed to be completed along with the Pragati Maidan tunnel and the other four underpasses in June 2022, but after delays, the project deadline extended to the end of 2022, and then further to early 2023. The deadline was then moved to September – just in time for the G20 Summit — but the floods delayed it further to December 2023.

Built at a cost of more than ₹920 crore, the Pragati Maidan Integrated Transit Corridor project is aimed at providing hassle free and smooth access “Bharat Mandapam”, the new exhibition and convention centre developed at Pragati Maidan. It is a part of the Pragati Maidan Redevelopment Project that was planned by the Union government to host G20 meetings.

However, with problems persisting, officials said that no new deadline has been fixed as of now, and the work has been on standstill for over a year and a half now.

PWD officials said this site is particularly vulnerable to frequent inundation as it is hardly 100m from the banks of the Yamuna, and groundwater levels in this area are high.

“We have worked on several solutions and also approached Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) and Indian Railways to help us so that the problem can be solved. We have now formulated a proposal that includes design changes like reducing the height of the underpass to make it technically feasible and have sent it for approval. We are pursuing it and will hopefully get a go-ahead soon,” said a PWD official, on condition of anonymity.

The site has three active railway lines above the junction, and construction and tunnelling work can only be done during a four-hour window every night. These issues were tackled with redesigning the drainage around the area, officials said.

“We are pushing for the proposal to be approved soon so that we can start work by early next year. It will take at least six months, so we may be able to finish work before next monsoon, if we start on time,” said another PWD official.

Experts said that there are various ground improvement techniques that can be employed to increase the strength of the site and pull the boxes back up, but proper surveys need to be done and the root cause of the problem has to be identified.

“It is difficult to comment on any problem without visiting the ground and conducting surveys. However, grouting is one way in which the problem can be solved. There are many different kinds of grout mixes—some will swell after application, some travel through the gaps and fix them and others are quick-setting grouts. One of these can be used to treat the soil and strengthen the ground so that it can take the load of the boxes. Once the boxes are fixed and not floating anymore, further steps can be taken,” said Debi Prasad Kanungo, chief scientist at Central Building Research Institute (CBRI), whose team also helped find a solution to the cracks developed in the main tunnel.