State’s longest road bridge to miss Rongali Bihu deadline

Guwahati: Assam’s longest under-construction road bridge connecting Kamakhya Gate with Maligaon in western Guwahati will miss the expected inauguration on Rongali Bihu in mid-April.
Sources said the firm engaged to execute the work has sought a six-month extension to complete the 2.63-km bridge. The Assam PWD is now eyeing to accomplish the target before Durga Puja.
According to official data of Assam PWD, an overall progress of 75% could be achieved as on March 16. The time period of completion was set to be 30 months when the project was launched. The initiated completion target was March 30.
“The reason for the delay has been cited as Covid-19 by the contractors. Anyway in-principle, the state government is allowing a gap period of six months to big projects due to delay caused by the pandemic,”a PWD official said.
So far, Rs 211.90 crore has been released by the government for the bridge. The overall project cost is Rs 420.75 crore.
Civil work of the bridge is being executed by SGCCL-ANPL(JV) joint venture company.
Construction of the four-lane flyover on AT Road, with one extended arm to Pandughat Feeder Road, started under the state-owned Priority Development (SOPD)-G funds of the state government for 2020-21.
A senior official of Assam PWD said all 60 pillars of the main bridge and 6 pillars on the extended arm towards Pandu have been completed. However, nearly half of the works of the deck slab or bridge surface is yet to be completed. The status report stated that 68 out of 124 deck slabs have been completed.
The length of the main flyover is 2065 meters, while the width of the four lane is going to be 16.6 meters. Pandughat Feeder Road Arm is a double lane with a width of 8 meters. The extended arm is 210-meter long.
PWD sources said planning is on to make the road beneath the bridge four-lane for the convenience of the commuters going to Kamakhya railway station and nearby localities in the greater Maligaon area. Heavy traffic congestion has been witnessed for the last several months due to the ongoing bridge construction in the AT Road, which is the entry point of hundreds of vehicles every day from several districts of lower Assam.