The construction of a second bridge over river Brahmani at Balughat in Rourkela would be completed by November, 2020, informed National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) Chief General Manager and Regional Officer Dharmananda Sarangi in an interaction with the reporters here on Thursday.
“The construction of the second bridge over Brahmani which began on May 23 this year will be completed by November 2020.
The six-lane bridge will have a total length of 29.1 km,” said Sarangi.
He said the bridge construction work got delayed due to the delay in getting forest clearance from the Union Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF).
He also informed that Hyderabad-based GKC Projects ltd has bagged the first package from Birmitrapur to Rourkela, including the new bridge, at a cost of Rs 381.75 crore.
The mega project has been hanging fire since the UPA-II regime. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on April 1, 2015 had publicly announced to complete the project soon. Union Minister for Road Transport and NHAI Nitin Gadkari had laid its foundation on July 21, 2017 and announced to start work in 15 days.
Besides the second Brahmani bridge in Rourkela, the construction of six more bridges over this river is underway in Bonai in Sundargarh district, Barkot in Deogarh and Sarang in Dhenkanal. Construction of bridges over the river at Jajpur Road, Jenapur and Jarka in Jajpur district would begin very soon.