Patna, Sept. 9: The western flank of Mahatma Gandhi Setu will become functional by December next year, minister Nand Kishore Yadav said today after an inspection.

Nand Kishore, the road construction minister, reached Terasia in Hajipur at 11.30am when workers were dismantling span number 6. Engineers of Afcons Infrastructure Ltd - the agency executing the restructuring project - briefed him about the progress. The Union ministry of road transport and highways is carrying out the restructuring project.

Today was the first time since taking charge of the road construction department that Nand Kishore was on site inspecting work on the Gandhi Setu. The lifeline 5.575-km bridge is being dismantled before the superstructure is replaced with a steel structure.

Principal secretary, road construction, Amrit Lal Meena, national highway, Bihar, chief engineer Ram Awadesh Prasad and the engineers of executing agency were present at the spot. The engineers demonstrated to Nand Kishore how the western part of the bridge is being dismantled with high reach jaw crushers. A dust control machine - a spraying machine that produces a mist blanket - is also being operated with an eye on the environment.

Afcons is working on the bridge spans on land. Rajesh Kumar, representative of the Union ministry, told Nand Kishore that dismantling of the spans over water would be carried out in November. The Setu has 46 spans and Afcons is ahead schedule. It has dismantled six spans by now while the target set was three spans by August. Dismantling each span is taking about a week.

Going by the pace of the work, Nand Kishore said: 'Work is going on in full swing and it's visible because the agency is ahead of deadline. I am happy that environmental issues are being considered. This pae must be maintained and I am happy to announce that the western flank will be opened for public by December 2018.'

Setting up the steel superstructure is expected from February 2018.

Mumbai-based Spectrum Techno Consultants Pvt Ltd is the design consultant and Delhi-based Almondz Global Infra-Consultant Ltd is the safety consultant for the project.

The restructuring work is being carried out at a cost of Rs 1382.4 crore from November 19 last year. The date of completion is May 18, 2020.

Nand Kishore also went to the Afcons base camp, 500m away. There, the agency officials showed him the model of how the Mahatma Gandhi Setu would look like once the steel structure is installed.

He also inspected the agency's lab at the camp, the site where debris from the bridge is kept and disposed of according to the norms. The agency officials also gave Nand Kishore a PowerPoint presentation following which he spoke on the history of the bridge - how the western part was opened in 1982 and eastern lane in 1987.