Design contract awarded for Indian bridge project

A major design contract has been awarded for a key bridge project in India. Consulting engineer COWI has been awarded the contract for the detailed design of the 10.3km Package 1 section of the new link. Meanwhile the Danish consultant Rambøll is to carry out work on the design for the 7.8km Package 2 section of the Mumbai Trans Harbour Link (MTHL). The Owner for MTHL is Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA)

The 22km link will be India's longest sea bridge and is expected to cost around US$2.31 billion to construct. This contract will include monitoring services during building, with work on the project expected to last from mid-2018 until late 2022. 

The bridge forms part of India's increased focus on building infrastructure to support the country's rapid economic growth. The link will cut travel time between Mumbai and Navi Mumbai by one hour and will also connect Nhava Sheva Port, the Mumbai-Goa Highway, the Mumbai-Pune Expressway and the Navi Mumbai International Airport, currently under construction. 

The bridge will traverse the Sewri Mudflats, Pir Pau Jetty and Thane Creek channels. In a first for India, the project will include orthotropic steel deck sections, crossing several navigation channels. 

Work is expected to start this month with an estimated construction time of around 40 months. COWI provided the tender design for a contractor joint venture consisting of Larsen & Toubro Ltd (L&T) from India and IHI from Japan. In 2017, the L&T-IHI JV was awarded the Design-Build contract for Package 1 of the project - the longest of the three packages. The Package 1 section of the project consists of an interchange connecting to the existing Eastern Highway in Mumbai and a combination of concrete box girder bridges and orthotropic steel box girder bridges. 

MMRDA has awarded contracts to a consortium of Larsen and Toubro (L&T) and Japan's IHI Corporation, a consortium of Daweoo and Tata Projects Limited (TPL), and L&T to construct the Sewri side of sea bridge (Package 1), the Navi Mumbai side of sea bridge (Package 2), and the bridge portion on land towards Chirle (Package 3), respectively.