The company building Bhagalpur's bridge has 34 projects, including seven bridge-flyovers in Bihar alone
SP Singla, the company that built the fallen bridge in Bihar, has registered offices in Delhi and Haryana. It was established in 1996 as SP Singla Construction Pvt. Ltd.
A part of the bridge being built on the river Ganga in Bhagalpur, Bihar suddenly got submerged in the river on Sunday. Many of its videos are going viral on social media. The construction of this bridge was going on for the last nine years. A company named SP Singla is constructing this bridge. After this incident, questions are also being raised on the construction company as this is the second time within 14 months that the bridge under construction has collapsed.
SP Singla Company is a name in the field of construction whose clients are from almost every state of the country. It gets tenders from UP to Assam. In such a situation, it is important to know that how old is SP Singla? What projects is the company currently working on? Who are its clients? Which projects of this company have raised questions earlier? Let's know...
How old is SP Singla company?
SP Singla Company is a family run company. The firm has its registered offices at Delhi and Haryana. It was established in 1996 as SP Singla Construction Pvt. Ltd. The firm says through its website that it plans and builds designs from transport, site development, hydraulic, environmental structural and geo-technical engineers in construction engineering. The company also manufactures spheres for smooth connectivity and communication over long distances.
What are the projects the company is working on in Bihar?
According to the company's website, it currently has a total of seven ongoing projects in Bihar. These included the cable-stayed bridge being built between Sultanganj and Aguwani Ghat over the Ganges to connect NH 31 and NH 80. which fell on Sunday.
Apart from this, a new 4-lane extradosed bridge (MG Setu) across the Ganga on NH-19 in Patna, a bridge over the river Ganga between Sherpur to Dighwara, construction of a flyover in Kishanganj city, a four-lane elevated road being built between Digha to Didarganj. The construction of is also the responsibility of this company. Singla Group is also responsible for the 830 meter approach road being constructed near the Digha-Sonpur rail-road bridge. The same company is also making the Ganga bridge being built in Mokama.
Apart from Bihar, where else are the projects of this company?
At present, 34 projects of the company are running across the country including Bihar. This also includes important construction like construction of 11.6 kilometer elevated viaduct and stations for Surat Metro Rail Phase-I. The company is constructing railway bridges at eight places.
These include the Narmada bridge on the Dabhoi-Sinor-Malsar-Asa road in Gujarat, the six-lane bridge being built over the Phapmau Ganga in Prayagraj, UP, the bridge over the Ghaghra river in Bahraich, the bridge over the Mahi river in Dungarpur, Rajasthan. The company is also building similar bridges in Assam, Manipur and Odisha. In UP, the rail-cum-road steel bridge being built between Ghazipur to Tarighat on the Ganges was also built by the SP Singla group.
Talking state-wise, out of these 34 projects of the company, maximum seven projects are going on in Bihar. After this, four projects each are going on in Uttar Pradesh, Assam and Gujarat. At the same time, the company is working on three projects each in Rajasthan, Punjab and Maharashtra. One project each of this company is going on in Odisha, Manipur, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh.
Have questions been raised on any project of this company before?
This is not the first time that questions have been raised on any project of the company. In May 2020, three children were killed when a concrete slab collapsed when the construction of the Lohia Chakra Path was underway in Patna. The incident was investigated but no action was taken against the construction company. It was also engaged in the construction of Lohia Chakra Path, an ambitious project of the Nitish Kumar government in Patna.
Bhagalpur bridge collapsed for the second time in 14 months
The Sultanganj-Aguwani Ghat bridge being built on the river Ganges has also collapsed for the second time within 14 months. A 200 meter segment of the 3160 meter long bridge had collapsed in a storm on 30 April 2022. Then the part between pillar number 4-6 had fallen. Now on Sunday (June 4, 2023), a 400 meter segment between pillar number 10-13 collapsed. About 600 meters of the under-construction bridge, that is, about 20% has been submerged in the Ganga.
The construction of this bridge is going on since 2014. A few days back, the eighth deadline has been given to complete it. According to this, the company has to complete the construction of the bridge by 31 December 2023. Earlier, the deadline to complete the construction work of the bridge was by the end of this month.
Question mark on Goregaon Mulund Link Road Project
Following the Bhagalpur incident, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's (BMC) bridge department has been directed to review the Goregaon Mulund Link Road (GMLR) constructed by SP Singla Construction Pvt Ltd. Former Leader of Opposition (LoP) in BMC and Congress corporator Ravi Raja has written a letter to BMC urging it to be blacklisted citing security measures.
The BMC had launched the estimated Rs 10,000 crore GMLR project to ease connectivity in Mumbai. The project, envisaged in 2019, will be a high-speed corridor connecting Goregaon to Mulund via a series of elevated roads, bridges and underground tunnels. Presently the work of first and second phase is going on. The BMC had said in a statement during this year's budget that the first two phases would be completed by December 2023.