Centre to pay agency Rs 15-25crto ‘monitor’ new Zuari bridge

Panaji: The Union road transport ministry has insisted that in addition to the maintenance contract under Dilip Buildcon for the new cable-stayed Zuari bridge, the bridge's health should also be monitored by an independent agency.
Sources said that the ministry is going to call for tenders from independent agencies to monitor the health of the bridge for a five-year period.
Special sensors will be installed on the bridge structure as part of the project to detect corrosion, strains, displacement of bearings, inclination of piers, temperature of the structure, and the condition of its foundation.
The bridge health monitoring project will follow the guidelines framed especially for this purpose by the Union ministry. The maintenance contract is estimated to cost anywhere between Rs 15 to Rs 25 crore.
Sources said that Dilip Buildcon, the contractors for the bridge, had proposed to carry out health monitoring of the bridge, but the proposal was not accepted by the Centre, which said that an independent agency should carry out the work.
After the appointed agency procures data on the bridge, experts will then recommend measures for preventive maintenance, repair, rehabilitation, and retrofitting to prevent any traffic disruptions or bridge failures.
Real-time data will continuously be produced by the bridge sensors. The focus is especially on major bridges in highly saline or polluted environments. The detailed project report for the work will determine the exact type, location, and number of sensors to be installed on the bridge by technical experts of the ministry.
Meanwhile, the ministry has also approved the old Zuari bridge and the Borim bridge for the bridge health monitoring programme. The contract for the five-year monitoring for these two bridges is estimated to cost Rs 5 to Rs 10 crore. Monitoring works for all three bridges will be tendered together.
“These are the only three bridges in Goa which fit the Centre’s criteria based on the dimensions of the structures. We are in the process of getting estimates of similar monitoring works carried out by other agencies elsewhere. Accordingly, the documents will be prepared and the work will be tendered,” said an official.
Both the old Zuari and Borim bridges, having been inaugurated in the mid-1980s, are nearly 40 years old. Besides, there have been concerns about the stability of such balanced cantilever bridges in highly saline coastal regions such as Goa, where they are known to face corrosion more rapidly than in other places.
These concerns have been heightened after the collapse of the balanced cantilever bridge over the Kali river in Karwar, Karnataka.