Panaji: PWD Minister, Nilesh Cabral said that the one four-lane section of the new Zuari Bridge will be opened for public vehicular movement in September 2022. The section is expected to be completed by August 15, 2022 which includes alignment of the entire bridge.
Shri Cabral inspected the ongoing work of one of the ambitious projects of the State – new Zuari Bridge today and informed that the alignment of the bridge is the major work which has to be done and it is done at every stage of the bridge. Prior to July 15, 2022 entire segments of the one four-lane section of the bridge will be completed and after that testing will be done, he added.
Shri Cabral said the other four lane section will be done by May 2023. IIT Mumbai has been involved in the work of the bridge and they are monitoring it regularly from the initial stage of design till functioning of the bridge. All the material which is required for the completion of the bridge has already reached Goa and there is no need of importing more material, he added.
Package I and Package III of the entire work is 100 % complete, he said and informed that the Central Public Work Department has changed the Chinese consultant to an Indian consultant who was there in the original contract due to COVID. Original French design of the bridge was not changed, he maintained.
Polymer based asphalt will be put on the bridge he informed. This bridge will be the country’s first bridge to have 36 Mtrs span width of the bridge having 8 lanes. The bridge has a span length of 360 mtrs. Original contract of the bridge did not have the scope for viewing gallery or watch tower which requires an additional budget of Rs.300 crores, he pointed.
Chief Engineer, Roads & Bridges, National Highway Goa, Shri Dinesh Gupta; Principal Chief Engineer, PWD, Shri Uttam Parksekar; Vice President, M/s Dilip Buildcon Pvt. Ltd. Shri Atul Joshi, Authority Engineers of the consultant of bridge and others were present on the occasion. Presentation of the work was also done by officials.
