Name of the author: Geetanav Ojha, Calicut
When Sonia Gandhi landed in Mumbai to inaugurate the Bandra-Worli sea link, her mind might be wandering over the Union Budgets (Railway and the General Budget) but her soul must have been delighted. The delight comes in the wake of the successful accomplishment of this gigantic structure. At last, India can boast of a constructional wonder which can be promoted at the global stage.
The bridge connects two major and crowded suburbs of Mumbai, Bandra and Worli. This 4.7km structure is the first sea bridge built in India and stands tall with other Asian suspension bridges like the Sutong Bridge in Jiangsu, China (8.2km) and Tatara Bridge in Hiroshima and Ehime, Japan (1.48km). There are two primary towers in this suspension bridge which are connected by cables with a total length of about 40,000km which is sufficient enough to circumscribe the earth. The unique slabs on the bridge are fixed at specific points by specific nuts and bolts. The piling of the bridge is 100 feet under the sea. Launching trusses were used to fix the slabs which were subsequently moved by the floating cranes (Asian Hercules). The construction was successfully accomplished by the Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) at an estimated cost of around 1600 crores.
With all these features and technology, no wonder the Bandra-Worli sea link is a modern architectural marvel. As an engineer, where I feel the opportunity lies for India as a nation is to project this structure as a brand. It is worth recalling that whenever we think of the Beijing Olympics 2008, the first thing that comes to our mind is the ‘Bird’s Nest’. This is because it was projected as a symbol of the event and China as a nation wanted to exploit this opportunity (Olympics) to bring in more foreign capital by projecting its infrastructural expertise.
In this hour of financial crisis, when survival is the first priority, India left the world bewildered with a more than expected GDP growth of 6.7%. Hence, the Bandra-Worli sea link which has been named the Rajiv Gandhi Setu, presents a wonderful opportunity for projecting Indian infrastructure and taking the economy to an unprecedented level.
However, challenges remain to be countered at a faster rate. The bureaucratic red-tapism and some PILs delayed the project by as many as 7 years and escalated the total cost by about 5-6 times the original value. Design changes let to diversion from the initial vision of connecting the entire western shore. The entry and exit makes the total length go beyond 7 km which brings down the efficiency and at the same time adds to user woes.
Nevertheless, this Mumbai marvel has heralded a new era in the history of the nation and the onus now is on the government and the country as a whole to promote this feature and attract foreign investors to India and turn it to a dream destination.
Name of the author: Geetanav Ojha, Calicut
Factual Resources: Business Today ( 3rd July 2003) and Wikipedia.
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