Kolkata flyover: Political push, tech faultcould be crash cause
加尔各答立交桥：政治推动，技术缺陷也许是坍塌原因KOLKATA: The inordinate delay in executingthe work and Mamata Banerjee’s subsequent rush to open the 2.2km Vivekananda Road flyover seem to be its undoing,literally.The 2.2-km Vivekananda Road flyover, beingconstructed since 2009, has been beset by delays. Has the delay caused fatiguein execution? Amid perpetual postponement, in November last year, chiefminister Mamata Banerjee announced opening the flyover by February 2016, notcaring that 24% of the work was still left.
工程无节制的延迟，以及玛玛塔班纳吉随后急着开放2.2公里长的维韦卡南达路立交桥，似乎是祸根。
2.2公里长的维韦卡南达路立交桥从2009年开始修建，一直受拖延所困扰。是否是延期导致了施工疲劳？在无限期推迟后，去年11月，首席部长玛玛塔班纳吉宣布要在2016年2月份开放那座立交桥，全然不顾24%的工程有待完工。
With an eye on the assembly elections, thechief minister in November last year-at a Jagaddhatri Puja event-had declaredthe inauguration of the flyover by February 2016, ostensibly not paying muchthought to the fact that 24% of the work was left. Informed by her urbandevelopment minister Firhad Hakim that the deadline was implausible, sherelented to postpone the date but maintained that it should be finished bySeptember. As a result, immense pressure was apparently put on the implementingagency, KMDA, and builder IVRCL to meet the deadline, the 10th since theproject started in 2009.
考虑到议会选举就要来临，首席部长玛玛塔班纳吉去年11月宣布，要在2016年2月为这座立交桥举行完工典礼，全然不顾这样一个事实，即24%的工程还没完成。城市发展部长FirhadHakim表示这一截止期限是难以置信的，为此她同意推迟完工的日期，但是坚持要在9月份之前完工。结果，施工方受到了巨大压力。After a little over six years, only 0.9km of the 2.2km flyover has been constructed, to add up to 59spans. It is the 60th span that was being cast which collapsed on Thursday. Thecasting was on for two days, but the work, carried out from Wednesday midnighttill 5am on Thursday, was faulty, engineers suspected. They said the 100m span, or the deck slab-cum-girder fortwo stands, could have given way due to a failure of a pier in between.
6年多来，2.2公里长的立交桥只修建了0.9公里，浇筑了59个桥段，正是第60个正在浇筑的桥段在3月31日坍塌了。浇筑持续了两天，从3月30日深夜持续到31日凌晨5点，但是工程师怀疑施工存在缺陷。他们称，跨度100米的桥段可能是桥墩不结实而坍塌的。
Though junior urban development ministerBabul Supriyo blamed the design, an engineer said: “It looks more like a constructionfailure. Some error might have occurred in the construction procedure ormaintaining the sequence.” IVRCL group head (HR and administration) K Panduranga Rao pointedout that the crash was caused by a missing girder. “One girdle missed leading to asecond one to fall off,” he said.
城市规划部长BabulSupriyo将其归咎于设计，一位工程师说：“看起来更像是施工失败。施工过程中也许出现一些失误。”IVRCL集团指出，立交桥坍塌是少了一根大梁导致的。
