Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar
By Avijit Biswas
Bhagalpur: The much awaited under construction bridge over river Ganga connecting Sultanganj in this district and Aguwani Ghat in Khagaria district, is likely to become operational by May 2027. A deadline for completing construction work of the bridge within aforementioned period has been fixed by Bihar government.
To ensure under construction bridge could be opened for traffic within fixed time period, the state government chief secretary Pratyaya Amrit conducted aerial survey of the bridge yesterday and later held meeting with officials of Bihar State Bridge Construction Corporation at Khagaria. The representatives of company engaged for construction of the bridge were also present in the meeting.
As per information various aspects concerning completion of construction work within decided time period were discussed in the meeting. Timely accomplishment of construction work of approach road of the bridge from both Khagaria and Bhagalpur ends formed part of the discussion in the meeting.
Following discussion, it was decided construction work of sixteen- kilometer four lane approach road from Khagaria end and four- kilometer approach road from Bhagalpur side would be completed by end of next year. In this context all concerned were directed by chief secretary to ensure early solution of the problems causing delay in construction of approach road from both sides of the bridge.
The construction work of Sultanganj -Aguwani Ghat bridge project it may be mentioned has been delayed due to collapse of portion of under construction bridge twice between 2022 and 2023. The collapse of under construction bridge twice in past had put state government in awkward situation, with quality of construction work coming in for question.
After collapse of portion of the bridge respectively in 2022 and 2023 a part of faulty section of the bridge planned for demolition collapsed again in 2024. However, it was clarified by the authorities that demolition process of the defective spans had already started, resulted in collapse of faulty section. IIT -Roorkee was engaged by state government for studying reason of collapse after portion of the bridge collapsed first time in 2023.
As per information subsequently corrective design and construction measures were planned for under construction bridge, in light of study recommendations of IIT-Roorkee. The construction work of 3.16 kilometer bridge started in 2014, was originally slated for completion in 2019.
The construction work being undertaken at expenditure of approximately Rs 1710 crore has been delayed inordinately due to collapse of portion of the bridge in past. The NH-80 and NH-33 on other side of the river would be connected by the bridge after it becomes operational.
While approach road of the bridge would link NH-33 near Pasraha in Khagaria district the approach road in this side would connect NH-80 near Tilakpur village. The traffic load on existing bridges over river Ganga in this region is expected to reduce substantially after Sultanganj – Aguwani Ghat bridge becomes operational.
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