Daijiworld Media Network - Puttur (SP)

Puttur, May 20: Shiradi ghat road restoration and widening work is progressing as expected, and in all probability, it may be thrown open for traffic in second week of June this year.

The second phase of road development work taken up this year involves 12.38 kilometres (km) of road concreting work. Out of this, ten km road work has already been completed and national highway authority officials expect the remaining work to be completed by the end of May this year.

 
File Photo

Ocean Construction from Mangaluru, to which the contract work was entrusted after GVK group failed to undertake road work as agreed, began work on the road immediately after the highway was closed for traffic from January 20 this year. Although the company was given 18 months to complete the work, in view of urgency, it undertook work day and night and completed major portion of the road work. Rainfall experienced during the recent weeks has impeded the work. The contractors say they hope to complete the work by May end if rainfall does not create problems for them.

The contractors have built three bridges in the second phase of work, duly widening the existing bridges and providing protective walls on both sides. Work on minor bridges too has been completed.

As the roads laid in ghat section are seen to break on account of soft mud underneath, the road work is being undertaken here by laying geo textile sheet at the bottom before spreading crushed stones and laying concrete slabs.

National Highways Authority of India's officials confirmed that road concreting work at Shiradi Ghat is progressing rapidly and that unless heavy rainfall hampers ihe progress of work, the road could be ready for traffic by June 15.