GUWAHATI: The Assam government’s plan to open the high-tech extradosed Guwahati-North Guwahati bridge by September-November hinges on the nature of the upcoming monsoon. During a review of the construction in late November last year, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had said efforts would be made to inaugurate the bridge around Durga Puja this year.
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However, speaking to Gplus on Saturday, April 19, a senior PWD official did not sound too confident about meeting the deadline although, according to him, 70 per cent of the work has been completed. "It will depend on how long the monsoon lasts," he said.
“Seventy percent of the work has been completed, and we are now left with laying the connecting beams and that will take a month or so. After that we will start the road plastering. But, monsoons are nearing and that will be the biggest challenge to completing the work within the deadline,” he said. He said there were some difficulties faced along the way. "A part of the area in Amingaon was under the railways and it took time to get their clearance. Moreover, we encountered some issues while laying some of the pillars, which has been resolved now," he said.
A worker at Ground Zero in Machkhowa said that half of the work was done and they were trying their best to complete it on time. “We cannot predict the weather,” he said adding that rains give rise to floods which interfere with their work. At the same time, work is also likely to slow down in the hot months of May and June.
The Guwahati-North Guwahati bridge, which connects the city to Amingaon via Machkhowa is embedded with six new features and is Assam’s first six-lane high-tech extradosed bridge over the river Brahmaputra being built at an estimated cost of around Rs 3000 crores.
Sarma had also said that trucks and super buses would be required to pay toll fees but it would be free passage for motorcycles, four-wheelers, and smaller vehicles. “Trucks will pay a heavy toll fee. This measure will prevent trucks from entering the city and encourage them to take the highway route during night,” the chief minister said.