The Domuhani bridge over Subernarekha river, linking Sonari in the steel city to Dobo in Chandil, Seraikela-Kharsawan, is set to miss its December 31 deadline.

The construction of the 252-metre-long bridge had begun in December 2015 with the completion target of 24 months. Though the bridge is ready, a 7.7km approach road from Dobo to Kanderbera is likely to take at last another month.

Also, the under-construction roundabout on Kadma-Sonari Marine Drive needs 15 days more to be ready.

The bridge half of the project has been executed by Calcutta-based company, Royal Infratech, whereas the approach road connecting Dobo to Kanderbera on NH-33 is being made by the Seraikela division of the state road construction department.

The roundabout on Marine Drive in Jamshedpur on Thursday. (Animesh Sengupta)

Executive engineer of the division Dinesh Kumar Rajak claimed construction of the approach was going on in full-swing and it would likely be completed by next month.

“Road construction work was affected by cyclonic rain in the region 10 days ago. Incessant rain not only compelled us to stop work, but several portions of the semi-finished road were also washed away. Had weather not played spoilsport, we could have finished the approach road by December 31,” he said.

Aimed at easing traffic congestion in the steel city, the Domuhani bridge is also the responsibility of the road construction department’s Jamshedpur division.

Executive engineer, Jamshedpur, Sanjay Kumar Singh also blamed the weather for the delay in completing the roundabout on Marine Drive near the bridge. “The roundabout is a key structure to ensure vehicles, especially heavy ones, ply smoothly on the bridge. The rain had hampered the project. But, we hope to finish the roundabout in another fortnight or so,” Singh said.

The executive engineer added that as soon as construction of the roundabout was completed, they would start installing lights on the bridge and approach roads in consultation with Tata Steel’s utility wing Jusco.