Port Blair (Sri Vijaya Puram): The slow pace of work on the Andaman and Nicobar Islands’ crucial National Highway-4 has come under sharp scrutiny, with Lieutenant Governor Dr Dinesh Sharma expressing displeasure over the delays and directing the National Highways & Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd (NHIDCL) to accelerate construction and adhere strictly to completion schedules.
LG seeks accountability, not merely fresh deadlines: Against this backdrop, the LG’s displeasure over the pace of NH-4 works puts the spotlight not merely on revised deadlines but on execution and monitoring. He directed NHIDCL and other agencies to expedite construction, regularly monitor progress and address the difficulties being faced by people because of deteriorated roads and delayed works.
The issue came up prominently during a review meeting at Lok Niwas on Tuesday, where the Andaman Public Works Department (APWD) presented proposals for road construction and improvement across the Islands. The LG directed officials to give priority to projects directly affecting the travelling public and ensure that prolonged road works do not continue to cause avoidable hardship.
The directions assume significance as several stretches of NH-4 remain under construction or balance-work contracts even though the highway is the principal road artery connecting South, Middle and North Andaman. NHIDCL’s latest project-status data shows that a number of packages have either missed their original deadlines, are under revised completion schedules or have had to be re-awarded after termination of earlier contracts.
Middle Strait bridge remains a critical link
The most significant unfinished component is the balance work of the major bridge across Middle Strait Creek, connecting South Andaman with Baratang. The bridge project covers 1.963 km and has a sanctioned cost of about ₹371.88 crore. The balance-work contract was awarded in March 2024, with the appointed date of May 7, 2024. NHIDCL’s latest available status puts physical progress at only about 13 per cent and financial progress at 11 per cent, against a revised likely completion date of December 31, 2026.
The slow progress of this bridge is particularly consequential because the Middle Strait crossing is a strategic link on NH-4. NHIDCL itself has clubbed the bridge’s balance work with several adjoining NH-4 road packages in its 2026 consultancy tender for supervision of the projects, underlining the need to treat the corridor as an integrated road-and-bridge link rather than as isolated works.
The adjoining Package-IIIA, covering stretches from Middle Strait towards Humphrey and from Humphrey to Kadamtala, is officially listed as ongoing. NHIDCL’s current status shows about 82 per cent physical progress, with completion now expected by December 2026, although its original completion date was September 2025.
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Further north, the 26-km Package-IIIB between the end of the Jarawa area and Rangat is also incomplete. Its physical progress is listed at around 54 per cent, with the likely completion date pushed to March 2027 against an original October 2025 schedule.
