Mangaluru : The new major bridge across the Phalguni near Gurupura, on the outskirts of the city, on Mangaluru-Moodbidri-Karkala NH 169 will be completed by February 2020, said Nalin Kumar Kateel, MP, here on Saturday.

Talking to reporters after inspecting the project work, Mr. Kateel said the 175-metre bridge will replace the current one.

The Union government sanctioned ₹39.42 crore to the project and the State government invited the bid for its construction. The tender was bagged by local Mugarodi Constructions, which started the work on February 21, 2019. The firm has been given time till February 20, 2021 to complete the work.

“Going by the pace of the work, it is likely to be completed by February 2020,” he said, and added that it would be the first bridge to be completed very early in the district.

The local construction firm will do the work even during the ongoing monsoon, he said. The new bridge will be 16m wide with 11m being the carriageway. It will have 2.5m wide footpaths on either sides of the carriageway. The bridge has seven spans with each span 25m wide.

Mr. Kateel said of the 16-km road work between B.C. Road and Charmadi, work was over on 6 km.

He said Ocean Constructions has bagged the tender for the work of the four-lane concrete road between B.C. Road and Punjalkatte being taken up at a cost of ₹98.32 crore.

Detailed project report (DPR) for two-lane road between Punjalkatte and Charmadi has been approved by the Union government.

The DPR for the 25km stretch between Charmadi and Kottigehara was being prepared, he said.

Refuting some reports on Larsen and Toubro withdrawing from the project of four-laning the national highway between B.C. Road and Adda Hole, Mr. Kateel said the company is still executing the work.

“The company has taken responsibility of maintaining the portion of the highway,” he said when pointed out on the concerns expressed by the district administration few days ago over likely landslips in case of heavy rains in the region because of unscientific way of hillock cutting for road widening.