Shiradi Ghat Road

Minister, Reality Part Ways On Shiradi Ghat
Source: Deccan Herald (Green signal for expressway), The Hindu (Will the Shiradi Ghat stretch be ready by June?)

The Hindu

Union Minister of State for Surface Transport K H Muniyappa assured that the vexed Shiradi Ghat road improvement project will be completed by May, before the onset of monsoon. The work is in full swing and the project contractor has been directed to lay concrete stretches in places prone to damage, he added.

However, Raviprasad Kamila of the hindu, reports tht it is unlikely the road will be finished by June, the pace of repairs on this stretch of the highway, taken up by the Mangalore Division of the National Highways, does not seem to match the expectation.

The stretch of the highway passing through the ghat was closed for heavy traffic three months ago to take up repairs. The authorities concerned had promised that it would be reopened before the onset of monsoon.

Curves
The main problem appears to be completion of the 13 critical curves between Heggadde and Adda Hole Bridge. The curves are to get a facelift with concrete stretch, at a cost of Rs. 8.42 crore.

Bhandarkar Constructions of Ujire, one of the contractors, is on the verge of completing the work on only one side (vertical split) of the eight curves. For this, the company has taken more than three-and-half months. Besides completing the work on the other side of the eight curves, the contractor will have to take up and complete both the halves of the remaining five curves.

The completed work accounts for only 30 per cent of the contract.

An engineer supervising the work said that concrete was being laid in three layers — 20 cm granular sub-base, 15 cm dry lean concrete and the topmost 30 cm plain cement concrete.

The officials attribute the delay to use transit mixer (the one boarded on a vehicle).

As far as road work is concerned, two contractors are working on different patches of the 37-km ghat stretch simultaneously between Durgamba Rice Mill near Sakaleshpur and Adda Hole Bridge near Gundya in Dakshina Kannada district. One of them started the work in October while the other started a month ago. A major part of the asphalting work (22 km of the 37-km stretch) has been given to Durga Constructions of Tamil Nadu. An official said that the company had enough manpower and equipment, and expects that it would complete the work by March.

However, as one travels along the stretch, all he or she can see is that only pothole-filling work has been taken up and not more than 20 people are working.

The contractor is expected to lay two fresh layers, known as dense bituminous macadam (DBM) layer and bituminous concrete layer, after filling the potholes.

S. Gopal, Executive Engineer of the division, told The Hindu that the DBM layer would have thickness of 50 mm. On top of that 40-mm thick bituminous concrete layer would be laid.

Mr. Gopal said that two more batches of workers were expected to arrive shortly. “If you want to see the progress of work visit after a fortnight,” he said. Durga Constructions is asphalting the stretch between Heggadde and Adda Hole at a cost of Rs. 24 crore.

The other contracting company, Ramesh Kothari Constructions, which is asphalting the 11-km stretch, has completed filling up potholes and is laying the first of the two layers.

During a visit to the stretch between Durgamba Rice Mill and near Heggadde (towards Mangalore) on Monday, it was found that work on about 3 km of the stretch up to Donigal was completed. The contractor has promised to complete the work by the end of February. This contract was awarded a cost of Rs. 5.37 crore.

Works in the ghat section are being done only during day time.