Director ERA inspects JTFRP Works in Poonch and Rajouri

Rajouri: Director Economic Reconstruction Agency Jammu, Ravinder K Mansotra, on the instructions of Chief Executive Officer JTFRP/J&K ERA, Dr. Syed Abid Rashid Shah, today conducted an extensive tour of ongoing Jhelum and Tawi Flood Recovery Projects being executed under World Bank funding in Rajouri and Poonch Districts.

During the visit to the site of 165 meters span double lane steel truss motorable bridge over Betar nallah at village Dhallan in Poonch, it was informed that project has been approved at an estimated cost of Rs 18.00 crore and the substructure part is in progress and is nearing completion. It was further informed that the superstructure part i.e the truss girder bridge is under fabrication and nearly 60% of the truss has been fabricated and the work on the bridge would be completed by the end of this year.

The Director ERA asked the contractor for expediting the progress of work and completing the same at the earliest. Further the Director also impressed upon the engineers and the Quality consultant to regularly monitor the progress and maintain the quality of work.

It is pertinent to mention here that one motorable bridge over Betar nallah was washed away during 2014 floods and village Dalhan, Degwar Maldayalan in Poonch district remained disconnected from rest of the population for a long time. Due to the washing away of bridge, the inhabitants living in the vicinity had to face a lot of hardships and the construction of new bridge will benefit over fifty thousand population residing in the vicinity of the project.

The Director also visited the site of Gulati to Shahdara Sharief Road via Gambir Gali where he was apprised that the project is being executed at an estimated cost of Rs 38.97 crore and the work on it would be completed by the end of October this year. Near about 3.00 lakh souls are expected to be benefited with the completion of this project.

The Directed asked the contractor to expedite the progress and ensure the completion of the sub project in stipulated time. He further advised the Engineers and the Quality Consultant to regularly perform necessary tests to ensure the quality construction.

The Director was accompanied by the Project Manager (Transport), Nand Kishore Gupta; Dy. Project Manager (T), Rajinder K Sharma; Asstt. Project Manager (T), Narinder Kumar and Dy. Team leader TAQAC, Mohan Lal Thapa and others.