Estimating The Cost Of Falling Flyovers

The Vivekananda Road flyover in Kolkata collapsed on March 31, killing at least 25 people; and, according to media reports, this number may go up. While it was not clear why the flyover collapsed, some believe that a bomb blast might have pulled it down. A construction worker in the city has, meanwhile, pointed out that some of his supervisors had noticed that rivets on the flanks of the flyover were damaged. The armymen engaged in rescue operations also noticed that the iron sheets used as the base of the flyover were in a poor condition. Whatever the reason, many bridges, roads and other public infrastructure in India are in a poor condition.

However, major bridges collapsing is not as rare as it is believed to be, even in developed nations. In January 2016, the Nipigon River Bridge in Ontario, Canada, collapsed. There are many such structures that are in a poor condition, but people often do not notice it till there is an accident. In the United States, every year, hundreds of people die or suffer from various ailments because of the collapse of bridges and other decaying structures. The costs such disasters impose on real estate is also huge. When a major bridge collapses, roads become more congested, people spend more money on fuel, and more time is wasted while being stuck in traffic. All this leads to a huge wastage of money. It is, in fact, less costly to invest in proper infrastructure, provided the money is not spent on vanity projects.

Across the world, there is not much reliable data on the number of deaths and illnesses caused every year on account of crumbling infrastructure. In some cities like San Francisco, bridges connect ports with the mainland, and the collapse of a bridge can lower the value of real estate assets on both sides of the bridge, and increase the commute time many folds. It can also lower the supply of urban land in cities, because the amount of land supplied by proper infrastructure will decline.

However, the Vivekananda Road flyover in Kolkata is different from many major bridges that have collapsed in the recent past. Several bridges, for example, are built assuming that the structure would not be needed after 50 years, but the structure is not replaced even after that period. The construction of this flyover, on the other hand, began only in 2009, and the parties engaged in construction missed many deadlines. Even now, 40 per cent of the construction remained incomplete.

Such incidents may force authorities to take a re-look into their infrastructure projects.