India’s Longest Open Sea Bridge To Be Ready By 2021

The 22 km-long ambitious Mumbai Trans-Harbour Link (MTHL) that promises to reduce travel time between Mumbai and Navi Mumbai by half an hour will be thrown open for the general public to use by 2021, reports The Free Press Journal.

The bridge, consisting of 16.5 km over the sea and the remaining 5.5 km over land was originally proposed in 2004 under the erstwhile Congress government. After three failed attempts to get the project running, it finally gained momentum under incumbent Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. Construction is set to begin at the end of this month, while the geological survey began last month. The design for the actual bridge will be based on the results of the survey.

Three contractors have been appointed for the project that will cost Rs 17,843 crore of which the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) will fund 85 per cent.

The bridge will connect Sewri on the Mumbai side and Nhava Sheva on the Navi Mumbai end, thus linking the island city with roads leading to Pune, Goa and the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT).