[ Amar Sangno ]
ITANAGAR, 14 Jan: National Highway 415 – the ambitious project to give a facelift to the state capital and its peripheries in the road communication sector – is seemingly progressing at a snail’s pace, with commuters and residents alike irked at the executing agencies.
“I don’t know how long we are going to endure mud or dust laden road. I wish the executing agencies expedite the work progress and complete the project at the earliest,” said a resident of Lekhi village in Naharlagun.
However, sources in the highway department informed that “significant progress” has been made in both the packages. “Package B has 15.92 percent physical report on the ground, while Package C has 32.74 percent,” the department said.
According to Highway Executive Engineer Bini Pelen, “Both projects are, in fact, ahead of the physical targets given to them by the department as per the contract agreement.”
“Physically, though it looks slow, the progress report is being measured based on certain percentage of works or target given to them. They have significantly achieved the first milestone,” Pelen said.
Package B includes a 3.950-kilometre-long two-lane flyover from Benjamin Hotel in Papu Nallah to Kangkarnallah in Naharlagun. Similarly, Package C includes a 1.080-km-long four-lane viaduct from Nirjuli to the sinking zone in Karsingsa.
Work on the 11-km-long Package B had started on 18 December, 2021, after the work was awarded to Odisha-based construction company M/s Woodhill-Shivam (JV), which later sublet it to M/s TK Engineering Consortium Pvt Ltd, Naharlagun. The total cost of the project is Rs 426.88 crore.
Package C was awarded to Odisha-based M/s ARSS Infrastructure Projects Ltd, which gave it to Bomdila-based sub-contractor M/s TTC Infra India at a cost of Rs 376.27 crore. The physical work had commenced on 2 August, 2021. Both the projects have a three-year deadline to meet.
The 59-km-long NH 415, which starts from Gohpur in Assam, passes through the heart of the Itanagar Capital Region (ICR), and ends in Banderdewa, has been a dream project of successive governments. The project includes 15 kilometres in Assam and 42 kilometres in Arunachal Pradesh.
The project has been divided into three packages: Package A (from Chandranagar, Itanagar to Papu Nallah, Naharlagun); Package B (from the Yupia trijunction in Papu Nallah to the Nirjuli Catholic church); and Package C (from Nirjuli to Banderdewa).
Chief Minister Pema Khandu had on 27 March dedicated Package A to the people of the state.
It is learnt that, for a few stretches under Package B, the district administration failed to complete the handing over of encumbrances-free land to the contractor. The stretch from the NRL depot to Sohum Complex in Naharlagun reportedly remains unresolved, which is one of the reasons that the contractor is reportedly facing hindrance.
However, ICR Deputy Commissioner Talo Potom claimed that the DA has already handed over encumbrances-free land to the contractor.
“Hundred out of 7,000 metres which are pending with the high court, I am pursuing. They (contractor) have sufficient work front,” said Potom.
The staff, along with the executing agencies told The Arunachal Times that sometimes the landowners also create hindrances.
“They do not allow the contractor to work freely. When the construction reaches their plot, they act like engineers and start dictating to the workers at the site,” he rued.
The Arunachal Times has learnt also that both the Odisha-based construction companies had quoted dismally low projects’ cost, which may cost both the sub-contractors. In Package B, it quoted Rs 341 crore from the Rs 426.88 crore. Similarly, in Package C, the agreement amount is Rs 301 crore from the tender-floated project cost of Rs 376.27 crore.
It is speculated that cost escalation and constantly rising prices of construction materials may cause a bigger impact on the progress of the projects if they continue to be constructed at the current pace.
