Shillong-Dawki bridge
By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: Tender process for the much-awaited Shillong-Dawki bridge will be completed soon.
According to PWD sources, the lowest bidder will get the job after the clearance from the Centre.
The construction of the 165-meter-long bridge is delayed after the Union Ministry of Road, Transport and Highways issued a directive the State PWD to go for a fresh tender.
“The ministry had also directed us to go for e-tendering (electronic tendering),” a senior government official informed here on Thursday.
The authority to award the contract for construction of the bridge lies with the Ministry and the PWD is only facilitating the tender process, the official said.
While admitting that the cost of the project would escalate since the original estimate was made way back in 2009, he informed that the original cost of the project was estimated at Rs 23.12 crore.
“I am pretty sure that the bidders would quote a higher price since the original estimated cost is no longer feasible. But it is for the ministry to decide whether the project cost should be raised or not,” he said.
The new bridge would be constructed below the existing motorable suspension bridge built by the British in 1932. It may be mentioned that the then Union Minister of State for Road Transport and Highways Mahadev Singh Khandela laid the foundation of the two-lane Shillong-Dawki bridge in December, 2009.