Ponda: With the monsoon fast approaching, the
contractor
engaged to construct the Angadi side
approach road
of the
Khandepar bridge
has expedited and completed the
storm water drainage
works.
The cross drainage is ready as the contractor has completed the main slab over the drainage. With this completed, work on the approach road to Khandepar bridge will pick up pace.
The public works department (
PWD
) had commissioned the Rs 250-crore Khandepar bridge in Dec 2018 without an approach road on the Angadi-Khandepar side. In absence of the approach road, commuters had to face hardships. The area had turned accident-prone as it was all chaos at the stretch for road users.
The vehicles had to take a service road to move towards Ponda, and at the same time, motorists proceeding towards the bridge had to travel via the service road. First-time users, including interstate travellers, used to get confused on the road, thus leading to accidents.
Although the bridge was completed with the Par side approach road in 2018, the contractor failed to construct a drainage to release storm water. PWD had taken up the cross drainage work recently after the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) approved the project at a cost of Rs 116 crore for the pending work.
The work has been sanctioned under the annual plan for the fiscal year 2021-22. However, a tender worth over Rs 97 crore was floated and M Venkata Rao Infra Projects Pvt Ltd has won the tender by quoting around Rs 73 crore, which is 25% lower than the tender amount.
PWD has allotted 18 months to the contractor to complete the work which includes construction of the approach road to Khandepar bridge, completion of pending works of the four-lane road at Angadi-Khandepar, construction of an underpass near Safa Masjid at Shapur on outskirts of Ponda town, etc.
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