BMC to appoint agency for bi-annual inspection of all bridges in Mumbai

Bridges dept floated tenders to appoint the agency for inspections in the Island city at an estimated cost of ₹4.11 crore. Similar tenders will be floated to appoint an agency in suburbs too

In a first-of-its-kind decision, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has proposed to appoint an agency to conduct the bi-annual structural inspections of all bridges in the city for a period of five years. The agency is required to consist of structural auditors, engineers, or consultants, and will be in-charge of conducting routine inspections twice every year and principal inspections once every five years.

Regular structural audits of all bridges in Mumbai were on the cards for BMC, following the collapse of the Himalaya Bridge at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) in March 2019. (HT FILE)

There are 344 bridges in Mumbai, including road and rail overbridges. BMC’s bridges department has floated tenders to appoint the agency for inspections of bridges in the Island city at an estimated cost of ₹4.11 crore. Similar tenders will be floated to appoint an agency in the western and eastern suburbs too.

Regular structural audits of all bridges in Mumbai were on the cards for BMC, following the collapse of the Himalaya Bridge at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) in March 2019. BMC had also proposed to set up a bridges’ inspection authority and appoint a bridges’ inspector for periodic audits. These suggestions were a part of a preliminary report submitted by then municipal commissioner Ajoy Mehta to the Maharashtra government.

Following the Himalaya bridge collapse, Mehta had ordered a re-audit of all bridges in the city, even though an audit of all bridges was concluded a year prior to the CSMT incident, in the aftermath of the partial collapse of the Gokhale Bridge in Andheri.

As an immediate measure, all bridges in the suburbs were re-audited by the same structural auditors and a new one was appointed for auditing the bridges in the Island city.

A senior civic official from BMC’s bridges department said, “We need a rolling mechanism for regular inspection of bridges in the city. The bridges department does not have the manpower to do so annually. Hence, we are appointing consultants for the task. As of now, we have floated a tender to appoint an agency for the audit of bridges in the island city. We are working out the cost of appointing agencies for the suburbs as well, and those tenders will be floated soon.”

Leader of opposition Ravi Raja said, “The administration needs to set up a mechanism to ensure its projects or any decision is implemented on a timely basis, as over two years have passed since the Himalaya Bridge collapse incident.”