With the State Government awarding the contract for construction of the proposed bridge over Gurupriya river to the Royal Infraconstru limited (RIl), Kolkata, the project is inching closer towards becoming a reality.
Notably, the Government has since long been trying hard to construct the proposed high-level bridge of 910 metres over the river at Janbai in Malkangiri as this is a strategic requirement for connecting the cutoff area of the Balimela reservoir which is infested by Maoists.
Now, the proposed bridge, to come up at a cost of Rs 172.58 crore in three years’ time, would provide all-weather communication to nearly 154 revenue villages of Malkangiri district.
The Gurupriya bridge project has gone through various initiatives in the past starting from an initial assignment to the State-run OB&CC limited during 2002, which was cancelled as the contractor could not start work till 2003.
later, Gammon India was awarded the contract in July 2006, but with the threat of Maoists looming large, the construction major left the job in May 2007.
The bottlenecks against the project were earlier reviewed time and again and an idea of a pontoon bridge was also explored, but it could not materialise.
This project was included in the leftwing Extremist (lWE) Scheme of the Union Government in 2010, and when tender was floated only one contractor applied, which was rejected by the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.
Subsequently, State PSU Odisha Construction Corporation (OCC) was assigned the job, but this effort also failed.
In 2013, Chief Secretary JK Mohapatra along with Principal Secretary Home, Vipin Saxena visited the spot, and it was decided to construct the bridge on an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract basis.
As the bridge would be constructed within Balimela reservoir basin, construction of conventional concrete type bridge wouild be quite difficult due to remote site conditions and standing water level of more than 30 meters resulting in large heights of supporting columns.
The EPC contractor would exercise its innovative design skill and planning with latest technology to suit the difficult site situation. Moreover, the site is prone to Maoist activities, which makes the task more difficult for the contractor to take up construction.