Thane: If everything goes as per the plan and the contractors speed up the work of under construction bridge between Thane-Kalwa by August 25, then the first phase of the ambitious third Kalwa road bridge over the Thane creek will be made operational for the public by the end of August said. The confirmation about the same was given by the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) additional commissioner Sandeep Malvi on Tuesday, August 2.
The bridge is from the police commissionerate office to Kalwa Naka and Thane-Belapur road.
Sandeep Malvi on Tuesday, along with the officials and stakeholders inspected the work of the third bridge which is being carried out by the TMC.
Speaking with the media Sandeep Malvi, TMC, the additional commissioner said, " 90 percent of the bridge with a total length of 2.40 km has been completed. I have also warned of taking action against contractors if the work of one lane from the Police Commissioner's Office to Kalwa Chowk and Thane Belapur Road is not completed by August 25. After the work of this route gets completed and when it is opened for traffic, the traffic congestion between Thane-Kalwa will be reduced and the citizens will get a big relief."
Sachin Kharat, a resident of Thane said, "In order to ease the massive congestion at Kalwa Naka which is a crucial junction on the Mumbai-Thane-Navi Mumbai-JNPT and Pune route, the construction of the third bridge was designed. We hope that it opens soon. The bridge has been in the making for several years now."
Kasber Augustine, president of Thane Citizens Forum said, "The third bridge was first proposed in 2013 and it has been now nine years but still we are waiting for it. The actual work on this bridge started in the year 2014 and the deadline for it was 2017 but it got delayed due to various reasons like clearances from the environment, land acquisition and traffic management. The work gained momentum in the year 2019 but again due to Covid-19 the work got stuck, but now the TMC officials are saying that 90 percent of work is completed and it is likely to be operational soon. We will be happy if what the TMC officials said comes true. "
Due to delay, the cost of the project has shot up from the initial Rs 69 crore to Rs 183 crore now.
Sandeep Malvi also took technical information during the inspection of the bridge work. And he also instructed the contractors to overcome the related difficulties and complete the project by hook or by crook till August 25.
