Mumbai: The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority(MMRDA) undertaking the Mumbai Trans Harbour Link (MTHL) has already spent Rs 150 crore out of Rs 18,000 crore till now. However, it has only managed to complete 11 per cent of the bridge construction work so far, according to an official of the MMRDA. In May 2019, the first pier of the ambitious MTHL was built at Sewri.
The project, which began in March 2017, has been divided into three packages and is expected to be complete by September 2022. Package 1 and 3 are being executed by a consortium of Larsen & Toubro and IHI, Japan, and involves construction from land to the sea. Package 2 involves the portion in the middle of the creek and it is being constructed by a consortium of Daewoo and Tata Projects.
An official from the MMRDA said, “At present whenever needed the work is carried out in the night time also. However, we plan to continue the civil work soon for 24 hours in a bid to complete the project on time, but only after considering the safety of workers as the work is being carried out in a creek.”
Meanwhile with the onset of monsoon, the civil work is expected to be affected. Currently the MTHL project is being carried out with a team comprising of 1,500 labourers and nearly 300 engineers.
Interestingly, it took the Maharashtra government almost four decades to begin the work on this 22-km-long sea-link between Sewri and Nhava-Sheva in Navi Mumbai which once completed will be the world’s longest sea link. Its cost increased by more than 400 per cent after it was conceptualised in 1980. Consequently, the bridge will be tolled to recover the cost.
