State Reporter
Guwahati: Work on the construction of the 12.21 km long Palasbari-Sualkuchi bridge project has already commenced, and 10% of the work is complete to date. The state government aims to complete this bridge over the Brahmaputra River by June 2028. The actual work on the bridge project started in the mid part of 2024 and Assam PWD awarded the work to L&T and funding of the project is being done by New Development Bank (NDB), which was established by the BRICS countries of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. The total cost of the bridge project is Rs 3197.20 crore, including land acquisition and other expenses. The funding will be done in the ratio of 80:20, with 80% of the amount borne by NDB and the rest 20% by the state government.
The project is named “Construction of a four-lane extradosed PSC bridge over the Brahmaputra River connecting Palasbari and Sualkuchi, including viaduct, approaches, and river training works, etc. on EPC mode under the Assam Bridge Project (ABP) II.” The length of the bridge over the Brahmaputra will be 3.6 km, and an approach of 5.61 km will be constructed on the Palasbari side and 3 km on the Sualkuchi side. The award cost of the project to L&T is Rs 2688.54 crore.
In a nutshell, an extradosed PSC (prestressed concrete) bridge combines features of a prestressed box girder bridge and a cable-stayed bridge, using external prestressing tendons that deviate upwards from the deck, resulting in a unique “fan of low, shallow-angle stay cables” look. There will be a total of 25 foundations to support the bridge, and construction work is progressing on these foundations at present. The foundation stone was laid by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on April 14, 2023.
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