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| The Digha-Sonepur road. Picture by Jai Prakash |
The ambitious Digha-Sonepur rail-cum-road bridge is set to miss the June 2015 deadline as hurdles have come in the way of constructing the 18.5km-long approach road on both sides of the bridge.
The delay is a bad news for commuters as their existing option of Gandhi Setu, the bridge across Ganga, is nothing but a nightmare because of its dilapidated condition.
The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) was involved in the construction of the approach road. Last week, the NHAI terminated the contract as the construction company involved in the work had left it midway claiming land had not been made available to it.
The road falls near All India Institute of Medical Sciences-Patna, which will eventually connect Digha. Whereas another part of the approach road is located at the northern-end of the bridge in the Sonepur side.
However, the official of the NHAI said there were no issues regarding land because it has been acquired by the agency.
A senior NHAI official said: “We have terminated the work awarded to MBL Infrastructure Ltd for the approach road of Digha-Sonepur rail-cum-road bridge as the construction company has failed to complete the work in the stipulated time. On top of that, the company gave false excuses regarding the non-acquisition of land required for the approach road. This will surely hit the deadline of the project, as it will take time to float fresh tenders.”
The work was awarded to the company in March 2012 at a cost of Rs 382 crore. However, in more than two years, the firm has constructed only 2.5km road. The bridge would play an important role giving much relief to the commuters who face a lot of trouble in crossing the river using the dilapidated Gandhi Setu facing frequent traffic snarls.
ECR chief public relations officer Arvind Kumar Rajak said: “Termination of the contract will not hit the progress as the construction company was not doing the work. A substitute tender has been floated and soon we will finalise the new agency.”
