The construction of the new Majerhat bridge would start in mid January. The state finance department has sanctioned Rs 170 crore for the construction of the bridge. If things go as planned, the cable-stayed bridge would be ready by January 2020. Earlier the bridge was planned to be completed by September 2019.

The new Majerhat Bridge will be similar in type to Vidyasagar Setu which is also a cable-stayed bridge. In such a bridge, the weight of the deck is supported by a number of cables running directly to one or more towers.

According to the approved design, the proposed bridge will be 23 metres wide and will have a footpath on each side and two traffic lanes of eight metres width.

Initially, the state government had planned to set up a bowstring bridge in Majerhat. As per the earlier design, the bridge was supposed to have a width of 29 metres and the lanes were to be 9.5 metres wide. In fact, it was proposed that the bridge would have four lanes. However as this would have encroached upon Majerhat Metro station, the plan had to be revised.

Engineers later realised that it was not possible to set up a bowstring bridge as it will cut down the space where the proposed Joka-Esplanade Metro project is coming up, said an official.

So, the Haryana-based company that had won the bid to rebuild the bridge was asked to design a cable-stayed bridge as it occupies less space compared to a bowstring bridge.

The state Public Works Department (PWD) had fixed a timeframe of nine months to rebuild the bridge and this was later extended to 11 months, which would be effective from the date of the finalisation of the contract.

The Haryana-based company was given the contract on 6 November with 15 September 2019 as the deadline for the new bridge to be ready. However, the deadline has been extended till January 2020.