Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (RJP)
With DHNS Inputs

Mangaluru, Apr 22: District in-charge minister Ramanath Rai has revealed that the work on concreting of Shiradi Ghat will be complete by the end of May and vehicular traffic will be allowed from June.

He was speaking to reporters at Marnahalli near Sakleshpur after inspecting the work being done on the stretch covering a distance of 13.26 kilometres connecting Heggadde near Sakleshpur with Kempu Hole.

Rai said that 43 percent of the road work, which had been taken up at a cost of Rs 69.90 crore, is complete. The work on 69 culverts and four minor bridges have been completed. The work on laying dry lane concrete has been done on 9.90 kilometer stretch on left hand side and 9.10 kilometer stretch on the right hand side of the road.

The laying of granular sub base (GSB) has been completed on 10.84 kilometre, while the sub grade preparation has been completed on 10.84 kilometre stretch of the road.

Second Phase

For the second phase of the work, two bidders have applied to take up the work on 13 kilometre stretch of concrete from Kempu Hole to Addahole and 21 kilometre of asphalting from Gulagalale Marnahalli. The technical bid meeting which will be held in New Delhi on this Friday will finalise the tender. The estimated cost of the work is Rs 82.28 crore.

The road will not be closed for the second phase of the work, Rai said.

The work on side pitching, sign boards and crash barriers will be taken up in the month of June. As apart of the work on the stretch, pavement quality concrete (PQC), or final finishing work has been laid on 1.60 kilometre stretch. The PQC is laid only during night as it requires temperature of 30 degree Celsius. In a single day, about 800 metre PQC will be laid, which will require 27 days to complete the entire stretch. The cost of every cubic metre of PQC is Rs 10,800.

For every 4.5 metre of the stretch, groove cutting is done to check development of cracks on the road.

The contractor Ocean Constructions has procured slipform sensor paver at an estimated cost of Rs 6.5 crore for the road work.6,500 loads of gravel, 3,500 loads of sand, 1.35 lac bags of cement and 800 tonnes of steel will be utilised for the laying of the road, it is learnt.

A batch mixing plant has been set up at Marnahalli to mix the concrete and supply to the road work.