India’s commercial capital, Mumbai, continues to build offshore highway links to escape congested city roads. A contract for a $1-billion link off the west coast has just been awarded. On the other side of the peninsula, construction is about to start on an eastward sea crossing to the Navi Mumbai district.
An equal joint venture of Indian contractor Reliance Infrastructure Ltd. and Italy’s Astaldi S.p.A has just secured a 60-month contract to engineer, procure and construct the Versova-Bandra Sea Link from the Maharashtra State Road Development Corp.
The eight-lane, 17.7-kilometer viaduct will extend northward the existing 6-km-long Bandra-Worli Sea Link across the mouth, which now crosses the Mahim Bay.
The new link will be between 0.9 km and 1.8 km off Mumbai and include three 100-meter navigation spans and one of 150 m, with a cable-stayed deck. Two intermediate spurs will link to city districts. Louis Berger Group is providing project management under a $17-million contract.
Due for completion in 2022, the eastward sea viaduct to Navi Mumbai will total 21.8 km. Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority secured low-interest Japanese loans to finance the Trans Harbour Link. A joint venture of L&T Construction and Japan’s IHI Corp. secured a $1.3-billion contract covering 10.4 km of sea crossing, plus onshore work. Copenhagen-based COWI A/S is the team’s design firm.
Tata Projects, with South Korea’s Daewoo Engineering and Construction, won the $856-million contract for the remaining 7.8 km of sea crossing and interchange. Danish-based Ramboll Group A/S is handling detail design and supervision for the contractor.
