Firm building new Carnac Bridge set to reconstruct Gokhale Bridge

The civic body had floated the tender for reconstructing the Gokhale Bridge — estimated to cost Rs 84.7 crore — on November 12, after taking final approval on the design of the new bridge from IIT-Mumbai. The BMC deadline for submitting final bids for contractors was November 25. The last day for finalising the contractors was November 30.

A B Infrabuild is constructing the new Carnac Bridge that will be located between Masjid and CSMT in south Mumbai. Besides, BMC has also awarded the firm the work to build a bridge over the rail lines in Vidyavihar.

After tender for Gokhale Bridge was floated, five firms had submitted bids, including two from Gujarat and Hyderabad. Officials said three companies qualified in the final stage.

“The firm that will be awarded the contract has previous experience of constructing such fabricated railway over bridges for BMC, so we have the benefit of experience here. We are ready to issue the work order by first week of December,” P Velrasu, additional municipal commissioner (Projects) said on Wednesday.

He added that the new model of the Carnac Bridge is being built at a workshop at Ambala. It will be brought to the site, where it will be assembled. “We have prepared a similar model for Gokhale Bridge as well. The Railways will have to start demolition work at the earliest and reconstruction work will be carried out parallely. We aim to launch two lanes of the new bridge before next monsoon. The remaining two lanes could be started around September-October,” Velrasu said.

Meanwhile, local residents welcomed the decision. Co-founder of Lokhandwala Oshiwara Citizen’s Association, Dhaval Shah, said: “It’s a good thing that BMC is awarding the contract to a firm that has prior experience in executing similar works.”