The Bondel Gate flyover, that has been under construction for nearly a decade and has gone through several delays, is likely to suffer another round of time overrun.

Public works department (PWD) minister Amar Choudhury told the Assembly on Friday that the Central agency executing the project, National Projects Construction Corporation, had run out of funds and had approached the government for help.

?We are contemplating assigning the work to another agency. A drastic measure is needed, for we are determined to throw open the flyover to the public by the year-end,? the minister asserted.

Work on the flyover started in March 1996. It was scheduled to be ready by July 2002, but the executing agency failed to meet the deadline because of a funds crunch.

Faced with a barrage of criticisms from both the Opposition and treasury benches over the delay in commissioning the flyover, minister Choudhury said the government was concerned over repeated failures in completing crucial infrastructure projects in the city in time.

Work on the flyover had halted at one point because of a bottleneck relating to the removal of several illegal structures from the plots over which the project was to come up. ?We have been able to evict the encroachers. Now our problem is funds,? an official said.

The Bondel Gate flyover is being built across railway tracks and, according to the plan, the railways would fund the part of the project coming up on its land. On Friday, Choudhury refused to mention how much money the railways had granted.

Robin Deb, CPM legislator from Ballygunge (the flyover is in his constituency), slammed the government for the ?inordinate delay? in completing the project.

?Work was first taken up by the Calcutta Metropolitan Development Authority. Later, the PWD was involved. Construction of the Lake Gardens and Bondel Road flyovers started around the same time. While the Lake Gardens flyover has been opened to the public, we are yet to know when the other project will end. Now, after almost a decade, we are being told that the implementing agency will be changed,? said Deb.

Opposition leader Pankaj Banerjee (Trinamul Congress) asked the minister whether any compensation would be demanded from the implementing agency. ?Ten years have passed, but the project is still on. Tell us when it will be completed,? he said.

Choudhury informed the House that the Taratala flyover and its approach road would be ready by December. ?But the bridge, which will also be used by trams, cannot be opened unless the Calcutta Tramways Company submits a plan,? he said.

The flyovers coming up on the northern fringes of the city ? in Barasat and Birati ? will be commissioned before the scheduled date.

A flyover in Madhyamgram, also on the northern fringes, will be opened on June 3, 2006, four months before the deadline, Choudhury added.