Mumbai: Gokhale Bridge work order to be issued in 2 weeks; AB Infrabuild quotes lowest bid at Rs 74.5 cr

Mumbai: The BMC has finalised the contractor to reconstruct the railway portion of Andheri’s Gopal Krishna Gokhale Bridge, which has been shut since Nov 7 to vehicles and pedestrians alike.

Of five companies that participated in the bidding process, AB Infrabuild quoted the lowest at Rs. 74.5 crore, which is 12% below the cost estimated by the BMC, which was Rs. 84 crore.

The work order is likely to be issued in the next 15 days,a civic official said.

The BMC had invited bids for reconstruction of the bridge on Nov 12.Five companies had submitted bids by the last date, Nov 25.

Of the five, AB Infrabuild Ltd, Sai Projects (Mumbai) Private Ltd, and Shree Manglam Buildcon Private Limited fulfilled all the terms and conditions of the proposed contract. The first company’s financial bid proved to be the lowest.

AB Infrabuild’s current projects include construction of a road overbridge (ROB) at Vidyavihar railway station connection Lal Bahadur Shastri Road to Ramkrishna Chemburkar Road. The firm has also bagged the contract to reconstruct Carnac Bridge.

Sanjay Kaundanyapure, Chief Engineer of the BMC’s Roads and Bridges Department, said, “After scrutiny, the proposal will be sent for the approval of the Commissioner. Thereafter, a work order will be issued.”

The BMC wants to issue the work order in the next two weeks so that prefabrication of the structure and construction can start soon. The civic body wants to reopen two lanes of the bridge by May 2023. The other two lanes are scheduled to be opened by September 2023.

While experts from the Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute (VJTI) and the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT-B) have inspected the bridge and suggested that one lane in either direction could be kept open for pedestrians and light motor vehicles, the BMC is not likely to do so given that the bridge has been declared unsafe.