New Delhi:
No more "filth" in the Games Village or debris and slush on the streets the National Capital is finally wearing a shining refurbished look ready to welcome the visitors for the Commonwealth Games.
The city known for its numerous Mughal and British era monuments and buildings is now dotted with modern designer foot overbridges and flyovers, sleek street furniture and elaborate decorative signages.
The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC)and the Public Works Department (PWD) have mostly undertaken the new infrastructure projects. Leaving complaints about delay, lack of quality control and overspending behind, most of the projects are now over.
The heritage shopping district Connaught Place (CP) has got a fresh coat of white paint and its facade has been restored.
The NDMC, which is carrying out the 450 crore project, has said the remaining work will be done after the Games.
The posh Khan Market in south Delhi as well as the Khanna Market, Janpath Market and Tibetan Market were also revamped while some parts of the facade and parking area have been improved in Shankar Market near CP.
All the three agencies have carried out extensive road improvement, strengthening and dense-carpeting while streetscaping has been conducted on major roads.
The NDMC did streetscaping on 10 major roads while the MCD, which has spent over 700 crore on Games projects, has carried out streetscaping on ten roads near Chhatrasal and Rugby Stadium, four near Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, two each near Thyagraj Stadium and Karni Singh Shooting Range and five near R K Khanna Stadium, officials said.
It has also undertaken streetscaping on 28 roads on tourist hubs Karol Bagh and Paharganj besides improving areas near hotels and guest houses with installation of new tiles to designate parking areas and underground ducting of cables though officials admit that more work could have been done in the areas which are frequented by tourists.
The Games has given town planners an opportunity to experiment with modern street furniture like self-illuminating structure near Indraprastha Park, terracotta pillars-cum-lanterns on Mother Teresa Crescent or Games mural work on rotaries on Shankar Road.
An MCD official said the civic has body has installed information kioks on several streetscaped roads while along with a private group, 40 info-cafes have been put up across
the city which will sell Delhi memorabilia during the Games.
Pavement upgrading with multi-colour tiles have changed the look of many localities.
The MCD has constructed several underbridges while the PWD has built new flyovers on roads like Rao Tula Ram Marg, Aruna Asaf Ali Marg, besides six underpasses and 30 pedestrian bridges. One of its footoverbidges (FOB) near JLN Stadium collapsed during construction but has been replaced with a Baily bridge built by the Army in just five days.
The NDMC has opened three modern FOBs on Mother Teresa Crescent, Africa Avenue and Park Street built at a total cost of nearly 15 crore. Many of the new FOBs in Delhi has escalators and in some cases lifts too, with MCD installing a new designer FOB creating replica of 'signature bridge'.
The Rs 61-crore 4-km Barapullah elevated road, which will take athletes from Games Village to JLN is also ready, while MCD has completed work on a parking bay for 700 buses near the
stadium, the main CWG venue, at a cost of Rs 320 crore. At Safdarjung airport, a Park-and-Ride has been developed by NDMC for parking of vehicles destined for JLN.
New Delhi area is boasting of modern green and blue glow-signages put up by NDMC on roads and near important buildings. It has also spent Rs 30 crore on trendy streetlights while MCD has upgraded streetlights on 292 km of roads at a cost of Rs 106 crore.
Nearly 407 waterless urinals have been installed by MCD, most of them in south, central Delhi and Karol Bagh. NDMC has built 100 toilets on public-private partnership.
The prolonged monsoon has given a fresh lease of life to the green cover of the city. Horticulture authorities have carried out 'greening' under the bridges and on central verges of roads. An NDMC official said a Commonwealth Games Park has been developed by it in Sarojini Nagar area and green 'sheras' put up in various places. MCD has installed stylish 'tree guards' on some roads.
The city is known for its archaeological heritage and authorities have revamped 18 monuments while illuminating some key ones like the Old Fort, Subz Burz and Safdarjung Tomb.
However, status quo prevailed in the walled city, with planned redevelopment works failing to take off.
On the other hand, the slush and mud on roads due to unprecedented rains, the dug-up pavements and miles and miles of construction waste lying on roads are finally a thing of the past. The CWG Village too, after complaints of being "filthy", has started to earn accolades.
The look of Delhi has also been changed by the Metro network, which has criss-crossed all over the city. Two key lines of Metro are to be opened before the Games.