After a delay of nearly 15 days, construction on Mumbai’s historic Carnac Bridge resumed on Sunday following the long-awaited arrival of steel girders. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) confirmed that the delay has resulted in a penalty of ₹1.8 crore being imposed on the contractor yet affirmed that the project’s deadline—10 June—remains unchanged.
The girders, which form the base for the approach roads and are vital to the bridge’s structural integrity, were originally scheduled to arrive by 30 April but reached the site only on 10 May. “During our inspection in April, we clearly informed the contractor that a penalty of ₹10 lakh per day would be enforced for any delay beyond 30 April.
This would double to ₹20 lakh per day after 2 May,” said Abhijit Bangar, Additional Municipal Commissioner (Projects), to The Indian Express.As work resumes, the BMC is set to install 30 girders in this phase of construction, after which the surface will be levelled and approach roads constructed.
Bangar added that engineers had been deployed to the Daman workshop to oversee fabrication, but the delay was avoidable and not justified by any valid reasons.Originally built in the 19th century, the 154-year-old Carnac Bridge—one of the first bridges in Mumbai to span railway tracks—was declared unsafe in a 2014 audit and subsequently demolished in 2022.
The new steel superstructure will feature four vehicular lanes, doubling the traffic capacity of its predecessor.Equipped with modern lighting and signage, the revamped bridge is expected to significantly ease congestion on roads across South Mumbai, especially along the crucial east-west corridor that connects directly to P D’Mello Road.
Source: The Free Press Journal.
