The work on the southern side of the Gopal Krishna Gokhale Bridge, which connects the east and west of Andheri, is progressing slowly as the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) missed the November 14 deadline to lower the second girder and complete allied works on the railway portion.
With this, the completion of Gokhale bridge continues to face delays. As per the requirement, only 1.25 meters of the 7.5 meters have been completed, raising doubts about the deadline for completion of the work by April 2025.
However, civic officials claimed that an attempt would still be made to finish all work by the deadline set earlier April 2025 to complete work on the southern arm of the bridge. While BMC administration is expected to review the work in a few days.
The 86-meter extension of the second girder began in September 2024, but the delay has stalled further work. Including the approach road, footpath and boundary wall.
The municipal corporation officials claimed that work on the approach road to the southern arm of the bridge is going on parallelly. Civic officials said a penalty is likely to be imposed on the contractor.
Andheri Lokhandwala Oshiwara Citizen Association Director Dhaval Shah has expressed concern over the delay in the work of the bridge. According to him, “The timeline of the project is worrying with just five months before the monsoon. Given the current pace of work, it is unlikely that the work will be completed before May 2025.”
Managed by Rights Limited in coordination with Western Railway, the installation of the 1,300-metric-ton girder is a technically challenging operation. It involves advanced cranes and restricted site space. Additional works like tarring, street lighting and road markings will be carried out once the operation is completed.
The bridge, which was partially reopened in February 2024, is essential to ease traffic congestion between Andheri East and West. The BMC is saying that it will meet the April 30 deadline.
Meanwhile, internal sources have suggested that the work could be completed by May 2025 due to the delay.
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