Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 12th January,2024 inaugurated Mumbai Trans Harbor Link commonly known ‘Atal Setu’.
Atal Setu Bridge named of former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee
MTHL is country’s longest sea-bridge and is 21.8 kilometer long. It’s officially named Atal Bihari Vajpaye Sewri- Nhava Sheva Atal Setu. Prime Minister Narendra Modi placed it’s foundation stone on December 16.
Atal Setu bridge connects the Nation Mumbai to South Mumbai which will reduce current 2-hour travel to just 15-20 minutes. Prime Minister will be departing from INS Shikara in Colaba and arrive in Navi Mumbai via the sea bridge.
The PM organized a massive roadshow ahead of the 21.8 km sea bridge’s opening to commuters on January 13. He also spoke to the young during the Nashik young Festival’s opening, pushing them to push India to new heights.
The American construction consulting firm Wilbur Smith Associates first proposed the notion of a bay crossing connecting Mumbai to the mainland in 1963, but no further action was taken. The idea was brought back to life in the late 1990s, and in 2006 the first tenders were released.
Anil Ambani’s Reliance Infrastructure won the contract in February 2008, after he pledged to use a public-private partnership (PPP) approach to build the then Rs 6,000 crore bridge and return its construction costs in nine years and eleven months.
However, Ambani left the project a few months later. The Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) was replaced as the nodal agency by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) after several fruitless bidding rounds.
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Following MMRDA’s agreement with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), which committed to finance 80% of the project cost with the other 20% coming from the state and federal governments, the project finally got underway.
After a formal completion of the contract and tendering in December 2017, work started in early 2018. For the project, a total of Rs 21,200 crore has been invested, of which Rs 15,100 is a loan from JICA.
Atal Setu bridge will shorten travel times to Pune, Goa, and other south Indian cities and offer quicker connectivity to Mumbai International Airport and Anavi Mumbai International Airport.
It’s made under vision of Narendra Modi to make mobilization easy for the citizens by strengthening urban transport and connectivity.