Mumbai: Chief Minister Eknath Shinde inspected the ongoing construction work of the Gopal Krishna Gokhale Bridge in Mumbai on Friday and announced that it will be opened for the public by October’s end.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) issued a tender to reconstruct the bridge in December, with the goal of opening one arm by the end of May. The deadline had to be pushed back due to a shortage of steel supply from Jindal and Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) plants. Meanwhile, BMC said that by the end of December will try to open both sides of the bridge.
Chief Minister said, “I reviewed the situation and spoke to the DRM of Western Railways. I will monitor the steel supply as well and assure that vehicular movement on the bridge will be started by October-end this year.”
According to Andheri legislator Ameet Satam, while one arm of the bridge will open by the end of October, the entire bridge will not be operational until May 2024.
Satam said, “Total requirement of steel for the railway portion is around 2,600 MT out of which 750 MT has been received to date and an additional 1,200 MT will be received by the end of this month. Fabrication work will start after the rest of the steel is received by July. It is only after this that the work to complete one arm of the bridge will be done by October-end. The work to open the second lane will be started in November and will be completed by May 2024.”
Dhaval Shah, Lokhandwala Oshiwara Citizen’s Association said, “Postponement of the opening of the second lane of the bridge to May 2024 is disheartening and a cause of worry as this will result in more hardships for the residents who hoped for a revised deadline of year-end.”
