Jorhat, Oct. 10: Funds for the much awaited Jorhat-Mariani road has been sanctioned by the World Bank and work is on to requisition land to make way for a three-lane road.

PWD engineer R. Changkakati said the project, likely to start in a couple of months, will include widening of the road to 12 metres from existing 5.5 metres, drainage on the side opposite to the railway track and construction of a pavement on the same side.

“Once the acquisition of land is completed and some other formalities are completed, the World Bank will release Rs 56 crore for the first phase of the project,” he said.

Besides broadening and drainage there will also be cross-drainage at Cinnamara and Mariani so that water can flow out from the other side and not damage the tracks.

Jorhat deputy commissioner R. C. Jain said a proposal had been given to convert the road into a state highway and this would most likely happen once the road was extended to Mokokchung in Nagaland in the second phase.

In the meantime, the forest department will assess the number of trees to be felled in the process. The department is awaiting further notice from the PWD to begin work.

The road widening will entail the demolition of a number of shops and boundary walls of houses and government and non-government establishments along the 18.1km stretch of the road.

Dhiman Dutta, who owns a pharmacy, said the railways took away his house a few years ago and now he would have to let go about three feet of his shop, which stood in front of the house, for the road.

The extension work will begin from the railway crossing near the Lahoty petrol pump and continue till the Mariani thana chariali in the first phase.

The Jorhat-Mariani is an important link road, which connects Dhodar Ali to the AT Road in Jorhat via the Garali as well as the Mariani railway station, the only terminus in the district where all long distance trains to and from Upper Assam, including Rajdhani Express, stop.

The road has become a scene of frequent traffic jams and accidents because of its bumpy and battered condition.

The road was reconstructed about a decade ago but within a few years it had turned into a terrible shape. Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuba Chatra Parishad and the All Assam Students Union have been staging strikes and blockades to draw attention of the authorities to the bad condition of the road.

Though Rs 2 crore was sanctioned to repair the road, it still has potholes in some places.