Sonepur: Construction of a portal frame bridge over the Mahanadi river to save Sonepur town from regular floods has run into rough water. Construction work on the bridge has been stopped halfway, sources said Monday. This town is regularly inundated with floodwaters from the Mahanadi and Tel rivers. The Odisha government undertook a plan to construct a ring road around this town with the bridge and the foundation stone for it was laid by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in 2011. The project was scheduled for completion by 2022.
However, there are no signs as to when it will finally see the light of the day. ARSS Infrastructure Projects Ltd was awarded the contract for the construction of the portal frame bridge. However, work has remained suspended for quite some time now. The agency has also informed the state government that it cannot work based on the old agreement as material costs have escalated. It has written a letter to superintendent engineer Damodar Kaibarta of the Works department urging him to cancel the old agreement and return the earnest money deposited. The bridge was scheduled for completion by 2022.
However, only 10 per cent of the project has been completed, sources said. The withdrawal of the agency from the project has sparked concern among the residents who constantly suffer due to floods. Sources said that the Water Resources department had constructed an embankment to protect the residents from floods as well as to address the burgeoning population and traffic problems in this town. It laid the soil embankment road for 1,500 metres from the Mahanadi bridge and also blacktopped 2,400 metres of road from Tel river bridge till Bada Bazar.
However, work on the portal frame bridge from Kumbharpada to Dasamati ghat is yet to be completed. The 1,150 metres long bridge is most vital component of the whole project. The Works department had floated tenders amounting to Rs 56.90 crore four years back for this purpose. The plan was to construct 45 pears and two abutments for the bridge. However, senior departmental officials delayed in submitting the designs for the pear points of the bridge.
Sources also informed that so far Rs 5 crore has been paid to the agency involved in construction work. District Collector Bimalendu Ray pulled up the agency after reports about the slow pace of work on the bridge appeared in media.
However, after that the agency stopped working completely on the project on the pretext of losses. Sitanshu Mishra, president of ‘Zilla Sachetan Nagarik Manch’ termed the disruption of work as ‘unfortunate’. “The agency went slow on the project after being selected. The Works department also neglected and took a lot of time in submitting the project designs due to which work has stopped,” he added.