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A rupee coin (21.93 mm in circumference) used as a fiducial marker to measure the thickness of one of the roads at Duncan Basti in Dimapur. (EM Images)[/caption]
Eastern Mirror Desk
Dimapur, Feb. 28: Even as the Nagaland government has repeatedly assured to provide improved quality of roads, citizens of Dimapur are looking forward to travel on better roads by the end of this year as the Roads and Bridges division of the state’s Public Works department is engaged at ‘improving 25 of the town’s major roads.’
A highly reliable source from the department recently told Eastern Mirror that work is in full throttle to ensure completion of all the 25 projects within this year. Usually works begin between 8.30 pm and 9 pm everyday, as there is less traffic movement during these hours, the source said.
According to him, the construction works continue till 5 am, sometimes up to 7 am.
On being asked about the road specifications (to be followed during the construction process), the source informed that the road is being built using 50 mm of dense bitumen macadam (DBM) and 30 mm of bituminous concrete (BC) which totals to 80 mm, or 8 cm (3.15 inch).
The width of roads will be 3.75 metres for single lane; 5.5 m for intermediate lane; and 7 m for double-lane, according to the official source.
To confirm the department’s claim, Eastern Mirror recently inspected some of the construction sites. In the picture, the fiducial marker, a rupee coin (21.93 mm), has been used for size comparison to assume the thickness of the road. By this crude scale, the thickness appears to have matched the department’s claim.
Additionally, the present government has adopted the approach to ensure that the entire road repair works in the state’s commercial hub are accompanied by a parallel project—to build (better) drainages.
It was informed that the entire road projects are in full swing, while some have been completed, like the Hotel Tragopan junction to City Tower stretch, which was undertaken by M/S Multi Builders company.
According to the government source, this company was handling most of the construction works in Dimapur. It might be noted that the open tender invitation for these project was announced on Sep. 29, 2018.
The source informed that the tenders were submitted in Nov. 2018; while the works began by December.
Given an estimated time of completion of 12 months in the tender notice, the source was positive and ensured that the works will be completed within the stipulated time as the department “is very well ahead of time.”
Meanwhile, the terms and conditions in the tender notice stated that the “defect liability period after completion shall be for a term of three years for DBM and BC and one year for OGPS works during which period the contractor shall be liable to rectify any defects at his own cost.”
On being asked about any issues faced by the department or workers, the source said that there are currently no major issues except for some few squabbles from some landowners—which have been resolved.