Email
Print
ShareMumbai: The Bandra-Worli Sealink will finally open on May 1 or will it? The government has announced this date, the latest in a long series of deadlines declared but never met.
The company making the Sealink, Hindustan Construction Limited, says it is ready to go and has only a bit of patchwork to be completed that will be done by May 1. The toll station at the Bandra end is being finished at a furious pace while the last piece on the bridge on the Worli side has to be put in place.
This, says the HCC spokesman, will not take too much time. But the election code of conduct, which debars any new projects being inaugurated or declared during the campaign season after the elections are formally announced, could stymie the May 1 commissioning.
The solution to this is throwing open the bridge without a formal cutting of ribbons by a politician, but that requires graciousness and will of the powers-that-be.
Other problems related to the Sealink are also nowhere near being resolved. The 4.7 km bridge, an impressive work of engineering, will take users from Bandra to Worli in about six minutes, much less than the nearly 30-40 minutes it take via the Mahim Causeway and Shivaji Park route at present.
But once the cars land at Worli Seaface, getting out on to Annie Besant Road and then onwards to Haji Ali will be the usual nightmare. The lack of adequate infrastructure at both ends -- part of the original plan -- will mean bottlenecks making the whole point of the bridge redundant. Originally the idea was to make one long link from Bandra to Haji Ali with exit points at Worli, Napean Sea Road and other points. No final decision has been taken on the toll price for each use, but sources say it could be anywhere between Rs40-Rs50.
This is the first on-water Cable-stay bridge in India, which involves a tower to support both sides. Two towers have been built, the second one to provide a bigger gap to boats from the Worli fishermen's village who were concerned their route to the open sea would be made more cumbersome. The bridge already is a looming new presence on the Mumbai skyline and, once it is up and running, promises to be a familiar landmark of the city.
