MUMBAI: The
Mumbai Trans Harbour Link (MTHL) is likely to be inaugurated by
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on January 12.
At nearly 22km long, with 16.5km in sea, MTHL will be the country’s longest and the world’s 12th longest sea bridge, taking off at Sewri in south Mumbai, crossing over Thane Creek and terminating at Chirle in the distant outskirts of Navi Mumbai.
The engineering marvel has been in the making since 2018.
A senior state government official said, “The state government has extended the invitation to the PM for inauguration of this bridge on January 12.”
MMRDA has begun preparations for the launch of MTHL by floating tender for the event management firm for inauguration of all the events, including the launch of the 21 km sea bridge.
Another tender has been floated for project management consultant for operations and maintenance for this bridge for two years.
The state government has not yet finalised the toll rates for this bridge. However, MMRDA officials said that the toll may be fixed in the range of Rs 250-Rs 300 for passengers cars and may go higher for freight traffic .
The sea bridge is the longest in India and is expected to cater to 70,000 vehicles daily. Motorist can zoom past the bridge at a maximum speed of 100 kmph.
The six-lane bridge is among the most expensive project and is estimated to cost Rs 17843 crore.
The link will have interchanges at Sewri in Mumbai and Shivaji Nagar , Jassi and Chirle on National Highway 4B on the Navi Mumbai end.
There will artificial-intelligence based cameras that will alert the control room about any breakdown in vehicles that will be towed away via the emergency lanes. This will reduce the congestion time as vehicles will not remain abandoned on the carriageway for long.
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