According to reports, the longest sea bridge in India is expected to open to the public in January. The sea bridge, which was supposed to open the final week of December, is already behind schedule. It links Navi Mumbai with Mumbai.
The goal of the Mumbai Trans Harbour Link (MTHL) inauguration event is to be maintained in January, according to the Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (MMRDA).
The sources said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi could be invited by the Maharashtra government to attend the sea link’s opening, for which plans have already been made. After former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the bridge will bear his name.
The journey between the island city and the mainland will take just 20 to 25 minutes thanks to the 21.6 km long bridge. In addition to shortening the travel time between Mumbai and Navi Mumbai, MTHL will provide greater land access to Mumbai itself. Mumbai is an island metropolis well-known for its transit and travel from the South to the North. East-West connection would be enhanced by MTHL, resulting in faster and more cost-effective transportation of labor and raw materials from Navi Mumbai to Mumbai city.
Orthotropic Steel Deck, which allows a distance between two piers to be up to three times longer than usual, has been utilized to create MTHL. These lengths serve as huge ships’ navigational channels.
The state opposition heavily criticized the authority for not finishing the job by the deadline. Ninety-six percent of the sea bridge was finished by September; the remaining construction took around three months.
According to the sources, the Eknath Shinde administration is also awaiting the Prime Minister’s Office’s final approval.
Aaditya Thackeray, the head of the Shiv Sena UBT and a former cabinet minister, has been criticizing the state government and the MMRDA for postponing the bridge’s public opening. Thackeray said recently on X (previously Twitter) that the BJP need to concentrate on Maharashtra government rather than “event management.” “The illegitimate dictatorship has been unable to locate VIPs to launch and claim credit for the MTHL, despite it being ready for more than two months. Why hold out for the VIPs? For the benefit of thousands of residents, why not make the connection available? The regime’s refusal to offer these essential services and its insistence on letting the state depend on the dates of VIPs is a flagrant insult to Maharashtra and a mockery of all of us as citizens.
When the project’s foundation was set in 2014, its expected cost was Rs 11,000 crore; by the time it was completed in 2023, however, it had increased to Rs 17,800 crore, a 61.81% increase.
