Construction of the proposed second bridge over the Brahmani river has been delayed due to delay in land acquisition and availability of forestland permission, informed Works and Steel and Mines Minister Praffula Mallick in the State Assembly in response to a question of BJP MLA Dilip Ray on Monday.
Quoting information availed from the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), the Minister informed that the proposed six-lane bridge over the Brahmani river is a part of the proposed four-lane Biramitrapur-Brahmani project and concluding part of the National Highway-143. Groundbreaking for the proposed bridge was conducted on July 21, 2017 and the total project cost is estimated at Rs 678.92 crore. Due to delay in land acquisition and forest land approval, the project work had been delayed, informed the Minister. He further informed that the Stage-1 forestland permission was availed on May 4, 2018 and permission to cut trees and begin construction was given on August 27, 2018. As per the decision, the construction work of the bridge had to begin on May 23, 2018 and to be completed on November 18, 2020. While foundation work had already begun, the work has been stopped due to unavailability of land in Dandiapali/Brahmanitaranga village.
The proposed Biramitrapur bypass of the NH-143 has been stopped do to protest by locals and it has been decided to construct a bypass on a changed route.
Regarding NH-149, the Minister said widening work of the 68-km stretch from Pallahad to Pitri is now underway. Ground-breaking has not been conducted for this Rs 342.05-crore project. The project was targeted to begin on January 14, 2015 and complete on January 13, 2017. But the project has not been completed on time due to delay in availability of forestland. The construction work restarted after ‘construction on forestland’ permission availed this month. As of now, 97.7 per cent work has been completed and the rest part would be completed by December-end, 2018.