Bandra Worli Sea Link

Last night there was a fascinating laser light show at the Bandra Worli sea link and there was a lot of enthusiasm in the people attending the show. There was a sense of pride as well as hope that some of the traffic woes could be lessened. Check the sea link pictures here.

The web is full with facts about the link some of which are quoted below -
1. It weighs equivalent to that of 50,000 African elephants
2. The steel wire used is equivalent to the circumference of the earth
3. The 5.6 kilometre long bridge is 63 times the height of the Qutub Minar, a historic monument in New Delhi
4. It has consumed 90,000 tonnes of cement, which would suffice to make five ten-storied buildings
5. The cost of illuminating the bridge would be Rs 90 million
6. The height of the cable-stayed tower is equal to a 43-storey building
7. The eight-lane bridge will reduce the travel time between the two points from 60-90 minutes to 6-8 minutes. This will save around Rs 100 crore (Rs 1 billion) a year in vehicle operating cost alone

And now some of the facts which may reflect our lousy pace of infrastructure development -
1. The link opens eight years after the project was contracted and four years later than scheduled
2. Original contracted cost was about INR 3 billion (300 crores) which escalated to over INR 16 billion (1600 crores)
3. Only 4 lanes will be opened today and the remaining 4 lanes are "expected" to open in December '09
4. China has built seven sea links in the past six years. China built Hangzhou Bay Bridge (which is at present the world's longest sea-crossing bridge - 36 KM) in 4 years and it is targeting to build world's longest sea bridge (43 km) in 6 years
5. The Maharashtra government is yet to hand over the contract for the second phase of the sea link, a 4.7km bridge from Worli to Haji Ali

The delays can be justified on grounds of replacing the project consultants, changes in the basic design and financial trouble between the contractor Hindustan Construction Co. (HCC) and the state government. However we cannot escape from the reality that India has yet to catch up with the western world and China.