Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated India's longest sea bridge, Mumbai Trans Harbour Link (MTHL) or Atal Setu on Friday. The bridge which is named after former prime minister and BJP Stalwart Atal Bihari Vajpayee is 21.8km long.
As per PTI, the bridge has been constructed at a whopping cost of Rs 18,000 crore.
The inauguration comes at a time when India which is the third largest economy in Asia is looking to give its infrastructure a boost. This bridge will be connecting the island city of Mumbai to the mainland.
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The bridge will also ease the connectivity to Navi Mumbai where the Adani group is building a new airport. Maharashtra is also planning to build another city nearby which will make it one of the most promising growth corridors in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, according to a 2023 report by real estate services firm Colliers.
The bridge which will be open for commuters from Saturday has set its toll price at Rs 200 for passenger vehicles on the Sewri-Shivaji Nagar stretch and for the 2.5km Shivaji Nagar-Gavhan stretch, it is fixed at Rs 50.
For a return trip the toll will be 1.5 times the one-way charge. As per construction giant Larsen and Tourbo, the link will cut travel time from two hours to 30 minutes.
Business Standard quoted infrastructure experts and said that the bridge might not immediately solve Mumbai’s transport woes. Malini Krishnankutty, an urban planning consultant and professor at IIT Bombay’s Centre for Urban Science and Engineering told the publication that not adding a rail track to the sea link is a lost opportunity to push public transport.