New approach road to Nerul Jetty developing cracks, claim residents

Cracks on the newly-built yet-to-be-commissioned approach road leading to the ₹111Cr Nerul Jetty have raised doubts on the quality of construction work done by the CIDCO.

The 650m flyover is still not operational. However, the area is frequented by morning walkers who observed these cracks.

“The road was recently built and no vehicular movement is allowed. Yet, at various parts, there are cracks that run through the entire breadth of the road on both lanes. Even the boundary wall of the road has cracks. The number of cracks keeps increasing,” said Sunil Agarwal, a resident of NRI Complex.

The resident expressed concerns about the quality of work undertaken. “The jetty is likely to be made operational very soon and I dread to think what the condition of this road will be once vehicles are allowed entry,” Agarwal said.

CIDCO, however, said the cracks were not a major concern. “These are superficial cracks and not structural damage. The joints that are embedded with Shalitex boards along with concrete mixture have expanded due to extreme temperature,” said a senior CIDCO engineer.

CIDCO is said to be undertaking repair works of the joints. “The concerned agency has been asked to open up and repair the joints with rubberised Shalitex material to avoid recurrence,” said the official.

Private structural consultants, however, differ with CIDCO and have expressed concern after seeing photographs taken just three days apart.

“The nature of cracks developing doesn’t seem to be happening just due to expansion. There seems to be a differential settlement between two adjacent sections of the flyover. A newly-constructed structure is always expected to have some kind of settlement but it cannot be to this extent. If unchecked, it might lead to stability issues,” said Chetan Trivedi, Nerul-based structural engineer.