India’s longest sea bridge: MTHL will be opened on Dec 25, says BJP; MMRDA says works still pending

Terming it a “dream project” of Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, the 1.17-minute video by the state BJP states, “The touch of ‘Vikas Dev’ is turning Mumbai into a city of gold.” However, the Maharashtra government has not yet announced the inauguration of the bridge — a project that had been going on for decades. Visiting the MTHL in June this year, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Fadnavis had driven a vehicle on its deck.

According to MMRDA officials, several components of the project that are necessary to make the stretch fit for vehicular traffic are yet to be fixed and that it would be difficult to meet the December-25 deadline.They said while the deck work is mostly complete, package 4 of the project, which involves setting up of the Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) that includes Toll and Transport Management System and Equipment Installation are, is yet to be complete and was unlikely to meet the December 25 deadline. The tender for setting up these systems was given in April this year.

Deck work, which includes asphalting and waterproofing, is also pending but officials said that that could be completed in the next few days. “While we are in a position to complete the civil work by December, the technological systems that are vital for the project will take some more time,” a senior MMRDA official said on condition of anonymity.

The idea of a connector linking the Island City of Mumbai to the mainland was first proposed in 1962 in a study titled “Planning of Road System for Mumbai Metropolitan Region”. The idea was to set up infrastructure that would help in the greater economic integration of Mumbai island with Navi Mumbai and extended regions of Pune, Goa, Panvel and Alibaug.

It took the Maharashtra government close to 34 years to initiate a feasibility report of the
project in 1994. The project was stuck in bureaucratic files for another decade before the study was updated in 2004 and tenders called in 2006.

In 2017, the project was revived with the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) – the nodal agency for constructing the project — signing an agreement with Japan International Cooperation Agency, which is providing development loan assistance for the Rs 18,000-crore project. Work on the project began in April 2018, and was expected to be completed by mid-2023.

The Indian Express had reported last week that while the government is keen on opening the project, questions are being raised over its efficacy in the absence of adequate traffic dispersal roads to ensure smooth traffic flow from the bridge.