By Arun Pratap Singh
Dehradun, 10 Feb: The Uttarakhand government has announced plans to enhance the load-bearing capacity of more than 330 bridges in the state. This has been confirmed by Secretary, PWD, Pankaj Kumar Pandey. He has shared that the government has identified 334 bridges for upgrading from B to A grade, aimed at strengthening them by increasing their width.
It may be reminded here that there are over 2,000 small and large bridges in Uttarakhand, many of which date back to the time of independence. They have been bearing continuous vehicular movement since long without any major upgradation in many cases. To address the need for stronger bridges, especially in this border state where many road widening projects are currently underway, the Pushkar Singh Dhami led BJP government has decided to upgrade the load capacity of these bridges.
This project will be executed with the cooperation of the Asian Development Bank (ADB). The central government has approved this initiative, and the detailed project report (DPR) has been prepared at the departmental level. An MoU worth Rs 1610 crores is set to be soon signed between the state government and ADB in this regard which would cover upgradation of identified bridges and other related works.
In the first phase, Detailed Project Report (DPR) has been prepared for 43 bridges. This includes the upgradation of 15 bridges in Pauri, eight in Almora district, 10 in Bageshwar, nine in Pithoragarh, four in Chamoli district, and one in Dehradun.
Pandey stated that a total work plan of Rs 1610 crores has been proposed with ADB. An agreement will be signed soon, specifying the amount allocated for the upgradation of the bridges. Any remaining bridges will be upgraded at the state’s own expense.
The purpose of this project is to ensure that army vehicles and other heavy machinery can easily travel on these upgraded bridges. The PWD has conducted a survey and prepared a detailed work plan to bring more than 300 bridges from B category to A category.
