Kopra bridge repairs to begin soon

NAVIMUMBAI: The repair work at Kopra bridge at Kharghar, which shut five months ago, will start in a few days, said officials. Theworkcouldnotstartbecause of extended monsoon.

City and Industrial and Development Corporation(Cidco) said the work on the new bridge, parallel to the existing bridge, will take three months to start.

Ramesh Giri, executive engineer, Cidco, said, “Though the repair work should have started by now, it got delayed because of extended monsoon. We have instructed the contractor to start repair work within a few days.”

Cidco will build a third bridge over the nullah.

“Administrative approval and tendering process for the proposed bridge are pending. Hence, it will take another two to three months for us to start work on the new bridge,” said Giri.

The 60-metre Kopra bridge at Sector 15 in Kharghar connects Sion-Panvel highway.

Although one bridge is shut for repairs, the other is open. It regularly sees traffic congestion, especially during peak hours. Residents of Sector 11 and 15 in Kharghar have been taking long detour via Kendriya Vihar to avoid traffic.

Vehicles on the stretch have increased and commuters often face traffic snarls.

“It hardly takes five minutes to reach to highway through the bridge whereas if we take detour via Kendriya Vihar, it takes at least 20 minutes or more to reach the highway,” said Subhash K, 49, a resident of Sector 12.

Kharghar is one of the developed nodes under Panvel City Municipal Corporation. The node is expanding fast and many new projects are coming up.

In the past few years, many housing societies have come up, leading to an increase in population and vehicles. “I have seen the city grow. There is need to plan infrastructure in a planned way. Cidco also needs to start repairing the third bridge to decongest the road,” said Abhiram Dubey, 40, a resident.

Commuters are hassled because of the shut bridge.

“I pay Rs50 auto fare to reach Kharghar station from Sector 15.We used to pay only Rs10 by shareautorickshaw,whichhave stopped plying after the bridge shut,” said Rohini Dhawan, 39, a Kharghar resident.