Centre finalises new contractor for stalled Majuli-Jorhat bridge: Assam CM

Guwahati, Oct 7 (PTI) A new contractor has been appointed to complete the stalled Majuli-Jorhat bridge over the Brahmaputra river in Assam, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said.

The construction work of the two-lane bridge has been stalled since September 2024 after its earlier contractor, UP State Bridge Corporation Ltd (UPSBCL), left the site. No reason was made public for leaving the work midway.

"Another step closer to connecting Majuli and Jorhat. The Letter of Acceptance for completing the balance work on the crucial Majuli-Jorhat bridge has been issued," Sarma said in a post on X on Monday night.

This step of appointing the new contractor by the Union government paves the way for work to resume soon on the project, which will be a lifeline for the people of Majuli, he added.

According to the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways' Letter of Acceptance (LOA), which was shared by Sarma along with his post, Haryana-based SPS Construction India Pvt Ltd placed a bid of Rs 657.66 crore for construction of the main bridge.

The company will construct a total of 8.03 km, which will include the approach and the main bridge portion of 6.81 km, it added.

The LOA noted that the quoted bid price of "Rs 657,66,40,388 without GST has been determined to be the lowest evaluated bid and is substantially responsive and has been accepted".

The Union government has asked the company to furnish a performance security of Rs 32.88 crore as part of the necessary formalities.

The LOA, however, has not mentioned any deadline to start or finish the construction work, which is already much delayed.

In March this year, the overall project cost of this crucial road link to the world's largest river island was revised to Rs 1,019.17 crore, an escalation of nearly Rs 94 crore from the previous estimation.

For construction of the Majuli-Jorhat bridge, including immediate approaches over Brahmaputra on NH-715K at Dakshinpat in Majuli, the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways had earlier sanctioned Rs 925.47 crore.

In November 2021, Sarma had launched the construction works of the bridge over the Brahmaputra. The state government had constituted a cabinet committee to regularly monitor the progress of the project, which was scheduled to be commissioned by November 2025.

To connect Majuli with the mainland, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari had in February 2016 laid the foundation of a bridge over the Brahmaputra connecting Jorhat on the south bank and Lakhimpur on the north bank via the river island.

For the same project, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, before the state Assembly polls in February 2021, again laid the foundation stone for an eight-km-long Jorhat-Majuli bridge. PTI TR TR RG