VRISHANK MAHATME
vrishank@herald-goa.com
It’s been nearly three years since the work on the third Mandovi Bridge began. The bridge, which helps bypass the capital town, was to be completed by May 2018. It had now earned the dubious reputation of missing the deadline for the third time.
Ironically, if sources are to be believed, in all probabilities, the October 2018 deadline too will be missed. However, Goa State Infrastructure Development Corporation (GSIDC) is confident that the new bridge would meet this deadline.
The bridge was to be initially completed by April 2017. But it missed the first deadline and, later, could not be completed by December 2017 either. Later, it was informed by Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar that it would be completed by May 31 and would be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“The third Mandovi Bridge would be completed by October 2017 will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the presence of Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar. The work on the Panjim side was delayed due to the NGT stay order and that was the main reason for the delay,” a GSIDC official pointed out.
The total cost of the third Mandovi Bridge is pegged at Rs 860 crore of which Rs 462 crore was sanctioned by NABARD and recently the central government gave an in-principal approval for a grant of Rs 450 crore.
Another flyover arising from the Merces-Old Goa bypass road will join the Mandovi Bridge for traffic from Ponda to go towards Margao.
The Mandovi Bridge is a bridge between towns Panjim and Porvorim, carrying NH 17 over the tidal part of the Mandovi River. The first and second bridges are multiple span beam bridges, while the third is a cable-stayed bridge which has a total length of 3,771 metres.
The foundation stone for the third Mandovi Bridge was laid by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on June 14, 2014. The third bridge, The third bridge is designed and constructed by Larsen & Toubro (L&T) and is between the first and second parallel bridges, which will span over 3 kms and would be 15 metres higher than the existing two bridges.
The bridge will be a 900-mt four-lane bridge with a 550-m cable stay portion and a 3.2 km viaduct approach.
The bridge will have 68 spans comprising 13-25 segments each. The segments have been prepared using three external casting beds and reinforced bar cages and rebar jigs at Dhargal casting yard.
L&T is using specially-designed, chromium-layered corrosion resistant variety of steel from Tata Steel to prevent rusting, officials from the construction company said. They are also using a special chemical coat called AC-Cure that prevents water from evaporating by creating an impervious layer over the segment while it is being cured. AC-cure is manufactured by Apple Chemie.
