Expected completion time for Dimapur bridges extended
PWD (Roads & Bridegs) minister on Saturday undertook extensive inspection of four under construction bridges– Doyang bridge at Liphanyan in Ralan sub-division, Wokha; Balijan bridge, Chathe river bridge, 4th Mile area and Nagarjan bridge.
It may be mentioned that several bridges in Nagaland were either ravaged by floods or had collapsed since the bridges had outlived their life span. This threw traffic out of gear, particularly in Dimapur and also caused immense hardships to people living in the interior areas. To inspect the pace of construction of these bridges, Tongpang Ozukum along with executive engineer (R&B), Er. Talitemsu Jamir, and junior engineer PWD (R&B), Er Howoto visited the sites.
The construction of Doyang bridge, also referred to as “The People’s Project”, which started March 25, 2014 was delayed due to various unforeseen factors. The total width of the Doyang Bridge is 8.5 meters and the carriage width is 7.5 meters. The length of the bridge upon completion will be 115.85 meters. The project extension for Doyang Bridge is yet to be allotted by the Chief Engineer, Er. Talitemsu Jamir informed.
According the contractor of Doyang bridge, Abel Shohe, this was the first time since the commencement of the project that a cabinet minister had visited the bridge to take stock of the overall progress. Ozukum who also took a foot tour of the bridge and surrounding areas to gauge the overall progress expressed satisfaction with the workmanship and urged the contractor complete the project at the earliest since it serves as a major lifeline connecting several districts of the state. The contractor expressed optimism that two piers yet be erected on the riverbed will be completed before the monsoon next year.
Ozukum said he would visit the bridge again in the third week of January, 2019 to further monitor its progress.
On the other hand, Er. Talitemsu explained that a major challenge that workers currently faced was the redirection of the river for the erection of two pending piers. He said, water which was released during the evening from the dam located upstream causes de-silting thereby hampering construction of the foundation of the remaining two piers.
The other major concern was the unabated quarrying in the Assam side of the bridge which may cause damage to the bridge. However, DC Wokha has been notified on this matter, Er. Talitemsu added.
Later, Tonpang and his entourage visited the under construction bridges at Balijan, the bridge over Chathe river and in Nagarjan in Dimapur.
Tongpang who interacted with the engineers and workers on-site expressed satisfaction at the pace of work carried out with the bridge over Chathe and the one in Nagarjan. He also urged the site engineers at Nagarjan and United village to lay deck slabs from both ends of the bridges once the mid piers were assembled.
The construction of both these bridges began on October 3, 2017 and was initially expected to be completed by April 2019. However, the bridge over Chathe river is expected to be completed by October 2019, while site engineer at Nagarjan bridge, H N Baruah said the bridge at Nagarjan was expected to be completed by the end of 2019.
On the visit to Balijan, it was observed that the foundation was already dug to erect piers. The completion date for the bridge in Balijan has not been notified.
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