GUWAHATI: Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Saturday inspected the construction works of the new bridge over the river Brahmaputra near the existing Kaliabhumura bridge connecting Nagaon and Sonitpur Districts and asked the construction agencies to expedite the work to meet the deadline.
Sonowal while taking stock of the progress of the work urged NHIDCL and the construction companies to complete the project within November 2020.
It may be noted that the new bridge over river Brahmaputra measuring 3.015 KM in length is being constructed by Gammon India Limited and SP Singla Construction as a joint venture under the supervision of NHIDCL. An amount of Rs.588.95 crore has been earmarked for construction of this two lane bridge.
This bridge will not only connect the North and South bank of the river Brahmaputra but will also significantly improve traffic movement. Out of 25 pillars of this bridge, 21 pillars have already been completed and work for the remaining 4 pillars is going on in a full swing.
Chief Minister Sonowal while expressing satisfaction over progress of construction of the bridge urged the construction companies to work in three shifts instead of two for expeditious completion of the project.
Sonowal said that once this new bridge was completed it would be a major boost to infrastructure in this state. He also said that preliminary works for a new bridge connecting Gohpur with Numaligarh had started besides a number of bridges including Dhuburi-Phulbari bridge which have been sanctioned by the Central Government.
Earlier, the representatives of NHIDCL, Gammon India Ltd. and SP Singla Construction in a review meeting informed that Central Government has allocated sufficient fund for construction of the bridge, which is expected to be complete by November 2020.
Chief Minister Sonowal during his review also brought the issue of slow progress of four lane construction and repairing of National Highways. He asked the NHIDCL to expeditiously complete the construction and repair works.
NHIDCL General Manager Rajiv Sarma, General Manager of Gammon India Ltd. Anupam Das, Project Manager of SP Singla Construction Prashant Singh, Commissioner of PWD (NH) Raj Chakraborty and other officials of the construction companies were present at meeting.