Chief minister Chandrababu Naidu requested the South Central Railway to handover the Old Godavari Bridge, known as Havelock Bridge, to Andhra Pradesh government in order develop the area into a Tourist Spot and an Integrated Tourism Development Project at Rajahmundry & Kovvur in Andhra Pradesh.
He made the request when the new general manager of South Central Railway Ravindra Gutpa called on him at his Vijayawada camp office. The CM also suggested to the GM that Railways can auction the bridge to the private parties interested in the development of tourism in the area.
The CM said the local people had organized many movements against demolishing the bridge and demanded that the Bridge be converted into heritage symbol.
The CM also conveyed state government’s commitment to development the Tourist activities around the bridge. State government has been trying to take over the bridge ever since it fell in to disuse and Railway has been somehow tardy in taking the decision.
The historical Old Godavari Bridge is Asia’s largest rail-cum-road bridge on the river Godavari linking kovvur and Rajahmundry and is considered an engineering feat. Since this rail Bridge outlived its purpose by serving for more than 100 years, train services on this bridge were suspended from the year 1997 with the commissioning of Third Godavari Bridge. Today, the First Godavari Bridge still stands as a monument of human endeavor and skill. The bridge spans a length of 2.74 Kms.
