Contractors fined ₹20 lakh per day for delay in Carnac Bridge revamp

MUMBAI: In a race against time – and the Mumbai monsoon – the civic authorities have doubled the fine on contractors who failed to supply steel girders on time for the reconstruction of the Carnac Bunder Bridge. The fine, levied by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), is ₹20 lakh per day,

“The portion of Carnac Bridge over the railway tracks is complete, but the approaches are yet to be built. We needed 40 girders. We had a meeting with contractors and officers and we told them to supply the girders by April 27. When they failed to arrive by April 30, we fined them ₹10 lakh per day for delays till May 2. From May 3, the penalty was increased to ₹20 lakh per day until the girders arrive,” said Additional municipal commissioner (projects) Abhijit Bangar.

Carnac Bridge is a crucial bridge connecting P D’Mello Road and the Crawford Market locality. It was demolished in 2022, eight years after it was declared structurally unsafe.

To make sure the bridge is completed before the onset of the monsoon, Bangar has posted an assistant engineer at the site in Daman, where the girders are being cast. He says the girders should reach Mumbai by May 10. The BMC plans to complete the carriageways by June 10.

Assistant engineer Namdeo Raokale, who was instrumental in the completion of Gokhale Bridge in Andheri, will be posted at the site where the bridge is being built. “Since he is an experienced hand, Raokale has been posted at the Carnac Bunder site from Wednesday,’’ said Uttam Shrote, chief engineer of the BMC bridges department.

Alpesh Hirani of Bucon, which is the contractor building the bridge, said, “We will get the girder in three to four days. the BMC has set a deadline of June 10. We are trying hard to meet it.”