The had announced early this year that one four-lane section of the newZuaribridge will be ready for use by commuters by mid-December, in time to mark the 60th year celebrations of Goas Liberation. However, officials said that they are struggling to get a visa for the Chinese consultants to travel to India, even after interventions by Union minister for road transport and highways, Nitin Gadkari.
The Chinese consultants are required to oversee the assembly of the cable-stay section of the superstructure of the bridge. Officials said that the contractors for the new Zuari bridge work,DilipBuildcon, are now expected to ready the first section for use only by end of February 2022.
The new eight-lane Zuari bridge has been designed by French bridge specialist Erwan Vicat of Ingerop, Paris, in association with Infinite Civil solutions, India. Dewei Chan of Tongji University, Shanghai, China, is acting as design consultant.
The pandemic brought with it yet more hurdles in 2020, as it hit availability of construction material as well as labour. The government then set an April 2021 deadline for one-lane section of the bridge to be ready, but, having failed to meet that deadline too, had said that the section will be opened for Goas 60th Liberation year celebrations in December 2021.