[ Nellie Manpoong ]
ITANAGAR, Sep 9: “Before beginning black-top layering on the 10.50 km four-lane highway from Chandranagar to Papu Nallah (Package-A), the construction agency should pay attention to the structures,” said PWD (Highway) Executive Engineer (EE) Nani Tath.
He specifically stressed that TK Engineering & Consortium Pvt Ltd, which is the engineering, procurement & construction (EPC) contractor of the four-lane highway, has to pay attention to the structures before beginning black-top layering of the four-lane highway.
“Bridges, culverts, retaining walls, etc, should be given priority at the moment or the road stretch won’t last for long. Once these structures are completed and the ground is prepared, it will merely take three months for the construction agency to carpet the entire 10.50 km road,” the EE said.
Speaking to The Arunachal Times on queries regarding the delay in resuming construction, the EE said “the weather is completely favourable to begin work. And while there is visible mobilization on the part of the construction agency, it is slow.”
Tath informed that there is still the need to build walls near RK Mission Hospital and Hotel SC Continental.
The EE informed that out of the total 36 culverts along the stretch of the road, 15 are currently required at critical locations. For this, 150 pre-cast moulds are needed, which TK Engineering and Co has reportedly begun making. Formation cutting is also required at a few more locations within the township itself.
“TK Engineering and Co is highly skilled in earth-cutting and they have all the required equipment to begin work on structures. And while it has time till September 2020, we have to consider that it is the capital and the public is impatient. The agency should pick up its pace,” Tath said.
Regarding reports that there is hold-up in the construction at some points of the road, Capital Deputy Commissioner Prince Dhawan assured that there is no obstruction by anyone, anywhere at the moment.
There are large noticeable piles of crushed stones and gravels near IG Park, which were dumped at the site in the first week of September. However, there is no sign of construction anywhere on the said 10.50 km stretch of the NH-415.
TK Engineering & Consortium Pvt Ltd said it is mobilizing workers and equipment to resume work on the 10.50 km four-lane highway at the earliest.
Earlier, on 12 June, TK Engineering & Co had assured that DBM (dense bitumen macadam) or black-top layering of the four-lane highway from IG Park to the secretariat area would begin within June itself.
However, heavy rains began a day after the assurance was issued, and the agency could not continue with its work.
A director of TK Engineering and Consortium Pvt Ltd, Techi Tara, had also claimed that they were ahead of schedule and had achieved over 35 percent of the work instead of the 10 percent they originally had to achieve by that time.
Again, on enquiry by this daily on 22 August, the agency had assured that work would resume in the first week of September.
“Black-topping work cannot be done on rainy and wet bed. The road has to be completely dry for a week. Regarding structures, the work is going on,” Tara said on Sunday.
While the agency has three years to complete the construction of the highway (September 2017 to September 2020), the rains have taken a toll on the road-beds and has made commuting difficult.
TK Engineering & Consortium is the construction agency working on the Rs 196.19 crore project, under the supervision of the state public works department.
