Agartala, September 17 (TIWN): Construction work of the proposed Indo-Bangla bridge over River Feni is yet to start as the Public Works Department of Tripura repeatedly failed to finalize tender process, official sources said.

The Detailed Project Report (DPR) for constructing the bridge is yet to start.

Construction of the Feni Bridge was started with an estimated expense of Rs. 77 crores among other projects for higher bilateral understanding between India and Bangladesh.

As per bilateral understanding, approach road to the bridge on Bangladeshi territory was supposed to be funded by the Government of India. The centre sought funding from a foreign collaborative funding agency operating in Tripura for the approach road in response to which the latter agreed to fund if progress of construction work for bridge coulud be established.

Construction of bridge and approach road have both come to a dead halt. The Sabroom sub-divisional administration is yet to start land acquisition for to start approach road for the bridge and a proposed Land Custom Station (LCS) in the area.

Agartala is 1,650 Km awat from Kolkata and 2,637 Km from New Delhi en route Guwahati. The distance is barely 350 Km through Bangladesh.