The road construction department on Wednesday rubbished reports published in some dailies that rehabilitation work of Gandhi Setu will not start from January 15 as announced earlier.

Department secretary Pankaj Kumar said there was not an iota of truth in such reports and work will start as planned.

"There is no question of stopping or rejecting the proposal of rehabilitating the Setu. The tender has been floated, a construction agency has been selected. We are just waiting for the letter of approval from the general administration department. Rehabilitation work of Gandhi Setu will commence on the scheduled date," Pankaj said.

On January 5, the road construction department had received a message that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch the rehabilitation work of Gandhi Setu on January 15 through video conferencing.

The department had got the message from the ministry of road, transport and highways.

The rehabilitation work entails dismantling of the Setu superstructure and replacing it with steel structure. The Union cabinet on July 22 approved rehabilitation of the Setu at an estimated cost of Rs 1,742.01 crore.

Of the total investments, Rs 237 crore is expected to be spent on dismantling the structure that will be replaced by the steel framework.

Afcons Infrastructure Ltd has been selected for the redevelopment work and they will start the work by dismantling the structure on the Patna-Hajipur side. The restructuring of the Setu is expected to be complete in 40 months.

"The executing agency at present in busy in mobilising the machinery and a detailed preparation is on from our side and the agency's side," Pankaj said.

The main function for starting the rehabilitation of the Setu will take place in Terasia, Vaishali, where Union minister for road transport and highways Nitin Gadkari will be present whereas the Prime Minister will inaugurate the work through video conferencing at 1pm.

Department minister Tejashwi Yadav said: "I will be present when the inauguration will take place in Terasia. However, I have asked the executing agency to start the actual work once the machinery in place. One more thing that the agency has been asked to do is dismantle certain portions, construct it and then dismantle other portions before constructing it so that traffic is not be hampered on the Setu."