India’s Longest Sea Bridge ‘Mumbai Trans Harbour Link’ To Open For Traffic In November 2023

The under-construction Mumbai Trans Harbour Link (MTHL) will be open for traffic in November this year.

Connecting Mumbai to Navi Mumbai, the sea link will reduce the travel time between South Mumbai and Navi Mumbai to just 15 to 20 minutes from the present two hours.

It will provide direct access to Nhava Sheva Port, Mumbai-Goa Highway, Mumbai-Pune Expressway, and the new international airport under construction in Navi Mumbai.

The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), a Maharashtra government agency, which is the implementing authority for the six-lane MTHL project.

The MMRDA on Wednesday successfully launched the first longest Orthotropic Steel Deck (OSD) in package-2 of MTHL in the presence of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, the authority said in a press release.

The first longest OSD of package-2 of package-2 of about 22 km long Trans-Harbour link between Mumbai and Navi Mumbai is 180 metres long and weighs 2,300 metric tonnes.

The MTHL's package-2 has 32 OSD spans and of these 15 spans have already been launched.

This ‘longest sea bridge in the country’ will be the first to have an Open Road Tolling (ORT) system, an official release quoted the CM as saying on Wednesday.

He also said that 90 per cent civil work of MTHL has been completed and the bridge will be open for traffic in November.

With ORT, Vehicles would not have to stop on the bridge to pay the toll.

India's longest sea bridge with Japanese support

Work on the project, a 22-km-long sea-link connecting Mumbai with its satellite city Navi Mumbai, got off to a start in April 2018 with the contractor conducting soil testing in the Nhava Sheva creek.

The project's cost jumped from Rs 4,500 crore in 2005 to Rs 9,360 crore in 2013 and Rs 11,000 crore in 2014. Now, it is pegged at Rs 17,800 crore.

The Japanese International Cooperation Agency is financing 85 per cent of the project. The loan has been offered with a 10-year grace and a 30-year repayment period.

The JICA agreement with MMRDA for the funding was signed in May 2016, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation for the project in December 2016.

(With inputs from PTI)