Mumbai: The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) can now accelerate the works at Gopal Krishna Gokhale Bridge's site in Andheri, which had been stalled for more than two weeks. Around 80 metric tons of steel arrived at the work site from Ambala workshop on Friday night. However, the civic official fears that the process of girder launching and opening two lanes will be delayed by three weeks.
In June, the steel supply resumed in full swing after the resolution of the strike at the steel plant in Rourkela. However, the workshop at Ambala in Haryana, where fabrication works for Gokhale Bridge are being carried out, got flooded due to heavy rainfall on July 9 and 10, affecting the production work. It took 10-15 days to normalize the situation.
Mumbai News: Gokhale Bridge Work Resumes With Steel Supply, 3-Week Delay Expected For Girder Launching | FPJ
200 metric tons of steel on its way
Ulhas Mahale, deputy municipal commissioner (infrastructure), stated, "Two trucks of 80 metric tons of steel arrived at the work site on Friday night. Seven more trucks with over 200 metric tons are on their way and expected to reach the work site by Wednesday. So, we have started the work again on-site."
The assembling work is scheduled to begin from August, and the girder over the railway portion of the bridge will be launched by September-end as per the original plan. However, it may now be delayed by a few weeks, which could extend the deadline for opening one arm of the bridge to November. "The flooding has affected the fabrication work, so the work may be delayed by three weeks," said P. Velrasu, additional municipal commissioner (projects).
Gopal Krishna Gokhale Bridge, a primary east-west connector in the western suburbs, was closed to pedestrian and vehicular traffic in November 2022. Reconstruction work started in December 2022. According to the BMC, the two lanes of the bridge will be open by November, and the entire bridge is likely to be ready by December 2023.
