It makes travel easy for residents in Champakulam and Nedumudi panchayats
After a long wait, Kanjippadom- Vaisyambhagom bridge over Pookaitha river was opened to traffic.
It was inaugurated by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Sunday.
Public Works Minister G. Sudhakaran said that the bridge had been built overcoming several challenges. As per the original plan, the length of the bridge was fixed at 185 metre.
However, after the construction started a few years ago, the Inland Waterways Authority of India demanded the central span of the bridge be constructed with 40 metre horizontal clearance and 7 metre vertical clearance.
This forced the authorities to redraw the design by increasing the length of central span and height of the approach road.
Total length increases
The total length of the bridge also increased to 355 metre from the original 185 metre.
Although the project with new design was submitted for approval, it eluded administrative sanction. In the meantime, two spans at both ends were completed as per the original plan in 2016.
Later, Mr. Sudhakaran intervened and an additional amount of around Rs 16 crore was sanctioned for the completion of the project in 2017. Following this, six land spans each having a length of 26.50 metre, central span in 47 metre length, approach road and service roads were constructed.
The bridge connecting Kuttanad and Ambalapuzha Assembly constituencies makes travel easy for residents in Champakulam and Nedumudi panchayats, going to Government Medical College, Alappuzha and nearby areas.
Speaking at the function, the Chief Minister said that Kuttanad had survived two floods and the government was trying to find a lasting solution to the problems of the people in the region. He said that the government had decided to reconstruct the Alappuzha- Changanassery (AC) road.
This will help prevent flooding of the road during the monsoon season, Mr. Vijayan added.