11 contractors on board to accelerate Jorhat-Dibrugarh national highway work: Gadkari

Guwahati, Nov 27: Claiming that several factors, including shortage of raw materials have led to delay in the four-laning work of the Jorhat-Dibrugarh section of the national highway, Union Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari has said “strict directions” have been given to the NHIDCL to tackle all the challenges and complete the work at the earliest.

“The Jorhat-Dibrugarh section is running behind schedule due to several factors, including initial delays related to land acquisition, acute shortage of raw materials, especially silt and sand-the sources near river remain inaccessible for six months- and non-performance of some contractors,” Gadkari said in a letter to Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.

Gadkari said the entire stretch has been now divided into smaller fragments and given to eleven contractors. The stretch has been divided into sections of 10-20 km.

“The project encompasses construction of nine vehicular underpasses, six pedestrian underpasses and a flyover requiring substantial quantity of sand and RE (reinforced earth) wall portions. Approximately, 12 lakhs cubic metres of earth, 11 lakhs cubic metres of sand and 5 lakh metric tonnes of boulders are needed to complete the project which remains a challenge at present,” he said.

The Union minister said the National Highways & Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited has been strictly directed to proactively tackle all such challenges and issues on national highways in Assam and undertake comprehensive maintenance and restoration of national highways to make them traffic worthy.

Physical progress of these fragmented sections between Jorhat to Dibrugarh is between 0 to 20 per cent. Only in the national highway section between Demow to end of Moran bypass, which includes an ELF (emergency landing facility), the physical progress is around 40 per cent. This four-laning work was sanctioned ten years back.

-By Staff Reporter