The much-awaited Bokaro-Chas bridge on National Highway-23 will be inaugurated by chief minister Raghubar Das on Saturday but residents will have to wait some more time before they can actually use it.

Though revenue minister Amar Kumar Bauri on Friday announced the formal inauguration, Bokaro deputy commissioner (DC) R.M. Ray seemed reluctant to allow traffic on the bridge over the river Garga till the state government's public works department (PWD) inspected and okayed it.

Bokaro DC Ray said that the report of completion of the bridge had already been sent to PWD secretary Rajbala Verma and other departments concerned for their consent after testing the structure load of the bridge.

"A team of PWD officials were expected to arrive here before Holi but they didn't. I hope they arrive here in a day or two and give their report. I can allow plying of vehicles only after that," the DC said, adding he was hopeful of allowing vehicles on the new structure by next week.

Till that happens, residents will have to risk taking the old arterial single-lane overbridge, declared dangerous in 2002. Right now, the PWD mandarins are enjoying the extended Holi holidays. The PWD office will open on Monday.

But a few days' delay appears little in the larger context of delays.

The 102-metre-long and 11-metre-wide bridge on NH-23, which connects Ranchi with Dhanbad via Ramgarh, Bokaro and Chas, was completed in the first week of March 2016, missing the original deadline by over three years. The foundation stone of the bridge was laid way back on November 5, 2010 with a deadline of November 5, 2012.

More than 30,000 trucks and buses ply everyday on the old arterial bridge. Traffic jams are a regular feature, forcing the police to restrict heavy vehicles on the old bridge during peak hours.