Foundation for 2nd bridge on Brahmani in Rourkela by June: Gadkari

Bhubaneswar: The proposed second bridge on river Brahmani near Rourkela finally received a green signal after Union Transport minister Nitin Gadkari assured the Odisha government to begin work for the proposed project by the end of June.

In response to a letter of chief minister Naveen Patnaik, the union minister wrote to Odisha government stating ‘Tender for the project has already been floated and last date of submission of bids is June 12, 2017. I am sure we will be able to finish all necessary legal process of award within June and lay foundation by end of June, 2017".

The minister also assured to convert the bridge from two-lane to six-lane as per the request of local MP and Union Minister Jual Oram, Petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan and Rourkela MLA Dilip Ray. “They requested that earlier 2-lane project was not sufficient keeping in view growth of traffic in that area and socio-economic importance of the road. Therefore, accepting their intervention, I have directed my ministry to enlarge the scale of project and the bridge has been converted to 6-lane along with 4-lane road upto Birmitrapur", Gadkari mentioned in the letter.

Considering the seriousness of the matter, he split the entire project into two parts: 6-lane bridge on river Brahmani including 4-lane road project with a length of 29.10 km from Birmitrapur to Brahmani bypass and another 4-lane project from Brahmani bypass to Rajamunda.