Port Blair, Mar 30 (PTI) Construction of the longest bridge in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands is progressing satisfactorily and is likely to be completed latest by March next year, a top official said.

So far 37 per cent construction work on the 1.97km-long bridge over Middle Strait creek has been completed and it is expected to be over by December end or March, 2023, the official said.

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The structure will reduce travel time between Middle Strait and Baratang in Middle Andaman by 45 minutes, Col Hemant Bhardwaj, executive director (project) of National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation (NHIDCL) said.

“Now the travel speed in this stretch of NH 4 is 15 kmph, but once this bridge is completed and thrown open for public, it will increase to 60kmph,” the official said.

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The NHIDCL is a fully owned company of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.

Speaking to reporters, Col Bhardwaj said the construction of the bridge is being done by a Hyderabad- based company, hired by NHIDCL.

While the 1.45 km- long Humphrey Strait bridge was constructed at a cost of Rs 202 crore, the structure over the Middle Strait Creek is being done at a cost of Rs 170 crore.

The Humphrey Strait bridge has already been inaugurated by Union Home Minister, Mr. Amit Shah.

Col Bhardwaj said that NHIDCL has also taken up construction of five smaller bridges – one each at Jodakalan, Sippighat junction, Dhanikhari junction, Potatong and B.D Nallah in the Jarawa reserved area.

Besides the bridges, NHIDCL has also taken up construction of NH-4 from Port Blair to Diglipur.

The total length of NH-4 is 330 km, out of which a stretch of about 151 km has been completed. PTI COR

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)