Imphal, August 30 2017: Tongjei Maril Road which is closely associated with the history of Manipur is most likely to be ready for movement of all kinds of vehicles by the end of 2018.
Notably, Tongjei Maril connects Bishnupur with Rengpang via Khoupum.
A team of PWD engineers led by Chief Engineer Sapam Tiken went to Rengpang along Tongjei Maril on August 28 and came back to Imphal along Imphal-Jiribam highway.
Originally, Tongjei Maril Road was very narrow and it was not used for a long time.
Due process for reconstruction of Tongjei Maril started around 2011 and execution of the same work began in 2014, said Chief Engineer S Tiken.
Construction of 20 Kms long Bishnupur-Joujangtek section is clubbed together with another road and their total length is around 91 Kms.
Out of these 91 Kms, the road construction work has been making good progress over a distance of 71 Kms, claimed the Chief Engineer.
The other road funded by NEC and clubbed together with Bishnupur-Joujangtek section would connect Bishnupur and Kasom Khullen via Thoubal.
Formation cutting work on Bishnupur-Joujangtek section has been completed except for some areas where there are huge boulders and some portions have been black-topped.
It is expected that construction work of Bishnupur-Joujangtek section would be fully completed by March 2018, Tiken said.
Talking about Joujangtek-Rengpang section where the road would join Imphal-Jiribam highway, the Chief Engineer said that Keystone Infra Pvt Ltd has been constructing with Rs 92 crore funded by ADB.
The firm has completed formation cutting work by 90 to 95 per cent.
Cutting of the same road is being impeded near Khoupum by electricity towers as cutting of hill slopes would raze these towers.
Nonetheless, necessary measures have been taken up in consultation with Electricity Department and NHPC.
The road construction work could not be executed at some points due to opposition by local villagers but now all the villages located along the road have been cooperating with the road construction work and as such, the same work has made good progress, Tiken said .
Other high ranking engineers who accompanied the Chief Engineer maintained that the road construction work could not achieve much progress due to short working season in the State .
Hardly five months can be counted as working season in Manipur.
Monsoon rain arrived in the State quite early this year and rainfall has been continuing intermittently till date, they said.
The Chief Engineer’s team also included SEs Y Joykumar and N Subhash.
Despite all these problems, the Chief Engineer exuded confidence that Tongjei Maril would be ready for movement of all kinds of vehicles by the end of next year .
Tongjei Maril road would have three big arc bridges and a smaller one.
One of the bridges has been included in the Tupul-Bishnupur-Thoubal-Kasom Khullen section and the construction is currently going on .
Joujangtek-Rengpang section would have two bridges and their construction would be resumed once the rainy season is over .
Tongjei Maril was called so for its narrowness but the road would no longer suit its name once the construction is over for the road would be much broader, added the Chief Engineer .
The distance between Imphal and Jiribam is 119 Kms irrespective of whether one goes on Imphal-Jiribam highway or Tongjei Maril Road but the latter would be much shorter for people living in Bishnupur and Churachandpur districts.
Source: The Sangai Express
