Another bridge across Vashi Creek

The Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) has invited tenders for building another bridge across the Vashi creek that would be built adjacent to the existing bridge. The existing bridge, which connects Navi Mumbai to Mumbai, is one of the busiest entry points to the city and is famous for its traffic bottlenecks. The bridge not only connects the city with western Maharashtra and Marathwada, but with South India. So, last year, a need was felt to build a new bridge parallel to the existing one. “The consultants have submitted their feasibility report after which we floated tenders.Since the Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (MMRDA) is funding this bridge, we have chosen to implement the Design-Built-Transfer (DBT) model,” said an MSRDC engineer. The infrastructure agency has called for a pre-bid meeting last month. However, the bidders have sought more time to submit the bid document. “Some 10 interested parties have bought the bid document. They want more time to study so that they can prepare the designs,” added the official. These bidders include companies like Gammon and Larsen & Toubro. The agency has also approached the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) for getting environmental clearance. “The mangroves are to be left unharmed as we have enough space for widening the road. There are some Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) issues which need MoEF’s clearance and we have sent them our proposal,” the official added.