VASCO
PWD Minister Nilesh Cabral on Monday said one four-lane section of the new Zuari Bridge will be opened to traffic in September.
He was addressing a news conference after a joint inspection to review ongoing works of the new Zuari bridge.
"All material for the bridge, including cables, has arrived in Goa and we are only awaiting completion of this project. We have been informed by DBL that the works of the alignment of the entire bridge is expected to be completed by August 15. The alignment of the bridge is a major part of the project and is taken stage-wise at every step," said Cabral.
"Package I and Package III of the entire work is almost 100% complete and only a small part of work on the exit road to get off the bridge at Cortalim is pending due to rains and will be completed soon.”
“Package II is that of the bridge and the alignment works of this package will be ready by August 15 after, which all parameters, including stability, tensile strength and alignment will be checked by consultant and technical authorities before we can open the bridge for traffic," said Cabral.
The minister informed reporters that the original design has not been changed.
"We had a Chinese consultant when we opened the original tender and the project faced hardships for two years during the Covid pandemic. The Central PWD later replaced the Chinese consultant with an Indian consultant to expedite the works, but the original French design has not been changed.”
“Before July 15, entire segments of the one four-lane section of the bridge will be completed and after that testing will be done. The other sections of the four-lane bridge will be done by May 2023," said Cabral.
"Besides the Indian consultant, the IIT Mumbai has been involved in work of the bridge and they are monitoring it regularly from the initial stage of design till functioning of the bridge at every stage. We feel that one side of the four-lane bridge can be open to traffic only after September," said Cabral.
Cabral also said a polymer-based asphalt will be used on the bridge.
"We had used M65 graded concrete for the other bridges like the Atal Setu and then, there was an additional layer that was put which created the issue. That layer has not been put on this Zuari bridge project and a polymer-based asphalt will be used on the bridge.”
Chief Engineer, Roads & Bridges (National Highways, Goa) Dinesh Gupta, PWD Principal Chief Engineer Uttam Parsekar, Dilip Buildcon Pvt. Ltd Vice President Atul Joshi, engineers of the consultant of bridge and others were present on the occasion.
Cabral also admitted that the viewing gallery at the new Zuari bridge did not have a watch tower or viewing gallery in the original contract and it would not be viable at this stage as it would need an additional budget of around Rs 300 crore.
"The original contract does not have a watch tower or viewing gallery and since the bridge structure cannot be dug again, only a foundation for a structure till a certain level has been kept ready.”
