Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Atal Setu, or the Mumbai Trans Harbour Sealink, India’s longest sea bridge, on January 12.
The bridge named after former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the Atal Setu, connects Sewri on the island city to Nhava-Sheva on the mainland. The 22 km-long, six-lane bridge includes a 16.5 km-long sea link and 5.5 km via ducts on land.
The official statement mentions that Atal Setu has been constructed at a total cost of more than Rs 17,840 crore. The bridge is expected to reduce travel time between Mumbai and Navi Mumbai from 2 hours to almost 20 minutes.
Presently, the bridge has two access points to Navi Mumbai at the moment, one from the Airoli-Mulund connector and the second from the Vashi connector. It was constructed using 504,253 metric tons of cement and 177,903 metric tons of steel.
Also read: Atal Setu: No bikes, autos allowed on India's longest sea bridge
The work on the project began in April 2018, but the idea of connecting the island city of Mumbai to the mainland was first proposed in 1962 in a study titled ‘Planning of Road System for Mumbai Metropolitan Region’. The Maharashtra government took around 34 years to first initiate a feasibility report on the issue in 1994. After being stalled for ten more years due to bureaucratic problems, the study was updated in 2004, and tenders were sought in 2006.
In 2017, MMRDA signed an agreement with the Japan International Cooperation Agency to revive the project, incurring development loan assistance of Rs 15,100 crore.
According to an RTI filed by activist Anil Galgali, MTHL saw a cost escalation of Rs 2,192 crore, or 14.9 percent. The lockdowns due to COVID led to delays in completing the project and escalated the original cost of Rs 14,712.70 crore to Rs 16,904.43 crore.
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