Cable-stayed bridge connecting Madh and Versova to be ready in 36 months, construction cost goes up by 60%

When contacted, civic officials maintained that the estimated cost was updated, taking into account the change in market rates. Several factors, such as labour charges and material costs, were also included in the final cost of the project.

“The timeline of completing this project is three years. Therefore, we have considered factors like rent of the casting yards, maintenance of the bridges for three years after construction and change in market prices of raw materials in the final cost, which made the overall cost go up by a certain margin,” said an official.

The flyover will be 2.06 km long and cable-stayed. The bridge will pass above Madh Creek and connect Madh Island in the western suburbs with Versova. Currently, a jetty connects the two places, and there is no vehicular access.

Motorists must travel via Link Road, S V Road, or Western Express Highway when commuting between these places, which takes more than 45 minutes during peak hours. Also, the ferry service in the jetty remains suspended during the monsoon season. Once the flyover is constructed, the travel time between these two places will come down to five minutes.

This ambitious flyover project was officially proposed in 2015, but it never saw the light of day. The BMC finalised the final blueprint in 2020. Due to the project’s alignment passing through a dense mangrove cover and coastal regulatory zone, the civic body required environmental clearances.

In March 2022, the Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority (MCZMA) asked the BMC to devise an alternate alignment for the bridge to minimise damage to the mangroves.

The project also faced opposition from the fishing community in Versova-Madh, which claimed that the proposed bridge would make parking boats inconvenient.

Finally, in January this year, the BMC obtained the necessary environmental clearances to proceed with the bridge’s construction, following which tenders were floated.