PANJIM: The new signature Zuari Bridge will be a one-way bridge (except for heavy vehicles) for next 18 months till the second phase of the signature bridge is completed.
PWD Minister Nilesh Cabral has stated that the second phase of the bridge would be completed by March 2024 even though there are reports that the work would be completed by November next year and an eight-lane bridge would be opened.
Given the missed several deadlines in the last four years to complete the first phase of the signature Zuari Bridge linking both the districts of the State, by now the entire bridge work would have been completed.
The first phase comprising the construction of the four-lane bridge started in June 2016.
It was to be completed within the next three-and-half years but the contractor M/s Dilip
Buildcon Ltd missed deadlines and it was extended many times. This has caused the delay in starting the second phase work which would have been completed by now if the first phase work was not delayed.
If deadlines were adhered to, the second and not the first phase would have been halted due to COVID
The delay has been attributed to various reasons such as the Covid-19 pandemic and the non-availability of the designer of the bridge from China due to travel restrictions during the pandemic. But this would have caused a delay in the second phase work and not the first phase work, which should have been completed by 2019, much before the Coronavirus struck.
Meanwhile, after the formal inauguration of the new bridge, it will be thrown open for vehicular traffic from Thursday midnight (as December 30 starts).
