Work on the second bridge over the river Mahanadi in Odisha's Sambalpur, being constructed at a cost of Rs 109 crore, is going on full steam and likely to be ready by this year.
The PWD is executing the work.
"A target has been set to complete work on the bridge by November this year," Executive Engineer of the Public Works Department, H. Majhi said expressing satisfaction over the pace of the work.
The foundation stone has been laid on January 29, 2014. Subsequently, the work on the project began.
The length of the bridge, which will connect between the Nelson Mandela Chawk and Chaunrpur on the other side of the river, will be 1500 metre.
The construction work has been estimated at Rs 109 crore, he said.
Earlier, the bridge was proposed to be constructed between the Sadak ghat along the ring road in Sambalpur city and Mundo gaht on the other side of the river. However, later, the department changed the location of the bridge.
There is already a bridge over the river Mahanadi in Sambalpur. The existing bridge is on the national highway-6, which connects Sambalpur with Bargarh.
However, the second bridge will connect to the villages located on the other side of the river. The people, who reside in the villages on the other side of the river, come to Sambalpur through National Highay-6. They have to travel around 25 kilometres by road to come to Sambalpur now.
People residing on the other side of the river will avail easy connectivity to Sambalpur after the bridge is constructed.
