Chittaranjan Tembhekar
 
Mumbai: It seems like the Bandra-Worli Sealink is a bridge to eternity. Already running five years late from its original deadline of June 2004, the sealink is still nowhere near completion.

The state government now says it will not be fully commissioned until July 2009.

Litigations and many other factors had forced the state to postpone the sealink’s deadline to December 2008. On Thursday, public works minister Anil Deshmukh said the eight-lane link would fail to keep its tryst with that date. It would, instead, be opened for public only in January 2009. Again, only four lanes connecting Bandra to Worli would be operational.

The four other lanes would be ready only by July 2009, he said. The minister said the cost of the bridge had escalated from Rs440 crore to Rs1,640 crore due to interests on borrowings, payment to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) for casting yard, and changes in design and alignment of the bridge.

According to Deshmukh, 78 per cent of the work has been completed. The bridge would not be completed before next year, because maritime authorities would not allow construction work during monsoons. The government had so far paid Rs800 crore to the contracting company, he said.

He said the feasibility of the third phase of the project from Haji Ali to Nariman Point is being studied by two consultants - E Sreedharan of Delhi Metro Railway Corporation (DMRC) and a foreign company, Consulting Engineering Service.

Source : DNAIndia