BANDRA WORLI SEA LINK ( BWSL)

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 SYNOPSIS
The iconic Bandra-Worli Sea Link (BWSL) is a 4.7 km long connecting
bridge linking the city of Mumbai with its western suburbs. The project
is considered an engineering marvel as it was constructed at open sea
and includes a cable stay portion and two parallel 4 lane bridges of 500
meters suspended from twin towers 126 meters high. Completing the
sealing is a 16 lane, state-of-the-art toll plaza and buildings for traffic
control, weather monitoring and surveillance systems. Since its grand
opening on June 30, 2009, the BWSL has greatly eased the travel woes
of Mumbai's residents. Before its construction, it took nearly an hour
to cover the 8 km distance between Worli and Mahim. It now takes
about 6 minutes to travel over the 4.7km stretch shortened by the sea
link, making it a much more convenient option. The BWSL will result in
savings in vehicle operating costs, reduced environmental and noise
pollution, and has no adverse effect on marine life. Constructing the
cable-stayed bridges was the most challenging part of the project and
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it demanded a very high level of technical expertise and required a
detailed stage by stage construction analysis prior to actual
construction
Location Map of the Bandra-Worli Sea
Link

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 IMPORTANCE & OBJECTIVES
• Understanding the structural and technological concepts
included in bridge construction like northern and southern
viaducts
• Analyzing the engineering challenges included in bridge
construction.
• Understanding the management techniques used for Bridge
Management, Toll Collection, Monitoring and Security.
• Understanding the methods used for power supply and
lighting.
IMPORTANCE
• The sea link is India's longest bridge and the first in the
country to be built over open sea.
• The sea link project is an engineering marvel. 4
 Key Features of BWSL
Official name : Rajiv Gandhi Sea Link
Carries : 8 lanes of traffic
Total length : 5.6 kilometers (3.5 mi)
Height : 126 meters (413 ft)
Constructed by : HCC Ltd
Construction begin : 2000
Construction end : 24 March 2010
Opened : 30 June 2009

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 BWSL Project Benefits
• Estimated savings in Vehicle Operating Costs (VOC): Rs. 100 Crores per
annum.
• Considerable savings in travel time (20 to 30 minutes) due to increased
speed and reduced delays (23 signals avoided).
• Stress free driving.
• Reduced accidents.
• Reduction in traffic on existing roads because of traffic diversion to the
Sea Link.
• Reduction in Carbon Monoxide and Nitrogen Oxide Levels in Mahim,
Dadar, Prabhadevi and Worli along existing roads.
• Reduced noise pollution in Mahim, Dadar, Prabhadevi and Worli along
existing roads.
• No adverse effect on fisheries, marine life and livelihood of fisherman.
• Landscaping along the approaches and waterfront promenade
enhance the environment and add green spots to the city. 6
• Mumbai gets a new landmark.
BRIEF EXPLANATION OF THE PROCESS /
CONCEPT

PROJECT PHASES
A project is divided into various phases for obtaining better control
over different project activities. All the phases combine to form
project’s life cycle. A project phase comprises of different project
activities. Following are the different phases of project life cycle.

Phase A- CONCEPTION
It consists of need for bandra worli sea link; Before the development of
this link Mahim Causeway was the only connecting way between
suburbs and south Mumbai. Due to this reason Mahim cause way was
loaded with heavy vehicular congestion in the peak hours. Bandra
worli sea link now provides an alternate way for diverting vehicular
traffic to South Mumbai and thereby reduces congestion. It also
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reduces the travelling time to just 8 – 10 minutes as compared Mahim
causeway which takes almost 50 minutes.
BRIEF EXPLANATION OF THE PROCESS / CONCEPT
Bandra Worli sea link goals:
• Savings in travelling time and reduction of vehicular traffic
• Reduction in air and noise pollution near residential areas of
Mahim ,Prabhadevi , Dadar
• Reduction in no of accidents by upgrading the road transportation
network

Bandra Worli sea link risks and assumptions:

Since the link is built over the sea, risk of non clearance by
environment ministry ,coastal zone management caused delay in
commencement of project.
Also issues related to fishermen along that area needed to be
addressed properly.
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 BRIEF EXPLANATION OF THE PROCESS / CONCEPT

Feasibility studies on Bandra Worli sea link:

• The project is designed by DAR consultants who have made the

feasibility report for the same.
• Feasibility studies have taken into account technical feasibility which
considers the capability of the contractor (Hindustan Construction
Company in this case) in terms of hardware, software, technical
expertise and equipment's required for the project.
• Economic feasibility for evaluating development cost, operating cost
of the sea link and cost benefit obtained due to diversion of traffic
and reduction in travel time.
• Operational feasibility to determine whether the proposed system
actually serves the need of reduction of vehicular traffic near Mahim
causeway and finally schedule feasibility to find out whether the
proposed system can be completed within time. 9
BRIEF EXPLANATION OF THE PROCESS / CONCEPT
Phase B: DEFINITION
Once the project inception has taken place the next step is project definition.
This stage is nothing but the analysis of the solution because it is at this stage
that the solution is scrutinized.
This phase has basic two objectives determination of final, detailed system
requirements, and preparation of a detailed project plan.

This phase can be divided into three main parts/steps:-

STEP 1: USER REQUIREMENTS

In this step all the crucial elements in the requires should be listed . These
requirements are listed in the order of priority so the can be easily referenced.
The sea-link project held the following requirements-
 Additional connectivity from city to suburbs.
 Reduction of travel time from 1 hour+ to only 7 minutes.
 Decongestion Mahim Causeway- 125,000 vehicles a day. 10
 Avoiding 29 traffic lights.
 Saves vehicle operating cost
BRIEF EXPLANATION OF THE PROCESS / CONCEPT

STEP 2: SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

• An 8-lane bridge.
• The sea-link should link Bandra and the western suburbs of Mumbai.
• Modern toll plaza.
• An intelligent bridge system should include efficient Surveillance
• Traffic monitoring system
• Emergency support
• Power supply
• Road lighting system

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BRIEF EXPLANATION OF THE PROCESS / CONCEPT
STEP 3: SYSTEM SPECIFICATIONS
They provide direction for the project. The system specifications
include:
• 8 Lane Bridge out of which 2 is specially assigned for buses.
• The length of the bridge is required to be 4.7 km over the sea-
surface and the weight is almost 670000 tones.
• The massive structure should be held together by main towers of
height 126 meters, which is roughly 43 storeys.
• Single Tower Single tower supported at 500 meters long Cable
Stayed Bridge at Bandra Channel.
• Twin tower supported 350m Cable Stayed Bridge at Worli Channel
for each carriageway.
• There should be toll plaza of 16 lanes which should have automated
toll collection which should include CCTV’s, traffic counting,
emergency telephones. 12
BRIEF EXPLANATION OF THE PROCESS / CONCEPT

STEP 3: SYSTEM SPECIFICATIONS Contd…

• Also payment mode by cash as well as smart card to be provided.

• The bridge system should have state of the art equipment to
maintain traffic monitoring and support.
• There should be emphasis given to light protection at bridge tower
and control building room
• The entire project is to take 5 years for completion.

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BRIEF EXPLANATION OF THE PROCESS / CONCEPT

Phase B: PLANNING

The overall project consisted of five distinct parts, contracted separately

to accelerate the overall schedule.

• Construction of a flyover over Love Grove junction in Worli.

• Construction of a cloverleaf interchanges at the intersection of the
Western Express Highway and S.V. Road in Bandra.
• Construction of solid approach road from the interchange to the Toll
Plaza on the Bandra side along with a public promenade.
• Construction of the central cable-stayed spans with northern and
southern viaducts from Worli to the Toll Plaza at Bandra end.
• Improvements to Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan Road. The fourth project was
the main phase of Bandra–Worli Sea Link Project, with the other 14
packages providing supporting infrastructure for the sea link.
 Engineering Challenges Faced
• Before undertaking the construction and execution of the project,
there were several major challenges to be addressed namely
• The foundations of the bridge included 604 large diameter shafts
drilled to lengths of 6m to 34m in geotechnical conditions that varied
from highly weathered volcanic material to massive high strength
rocks.
• The superstructure of the approach bridges was the heaviest spans in
the country to be built with span-by-span method using overhead
gantry through a series of vertical and horizontal curves.
• A one-of-its-kind, diamond shaped 128m high concrete tower with
flaring minor legs, converging upper legs, unified tower head housing
the stays and a throughout varying cross section along the height of
tower.
• Erection of 20000 MT Bandra cable-stayed deck supported on stay
cables within a very close tolerance of deviations in plan and
elevation.
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• All the above challenges faced were taken up single handedly and
solved until their termination by the skilled handling of the Project
Managers.
  
FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
The Project was initially stated to cost Rs. 350 crore in 1999, and the
estimate was then raised to 500 crore in 2000, and now is estimated
at Rs. 1600 crore. These estimates have been garnered from
newspaper articles over the years, as in spite of asking for the
reports concerning the project from MSRDCD, none of them were
made available to the panel.
According to a newspaper article in the Times of India of August 30,
2000, the MSRDC intends to recover the cost of the sea link by
charging a one-way toll of up to Rs. 60/- over a period of 25 years.
There, however, has been no official announcement of the intended
amount of toll that will be charged nor has there been any survey
conducted to elicit what price citizens will be willing to pay to use
the bridge. It has been alleged that the project has been
commissioned under a Build, Own and Transfer contract and funds 16
will be raised by the contractors who have been given the tender.
STAKEHOLDERS INVOLVED

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 List of Stakeholders

• Engineering Colleges, Students

• Financial Institutions
• Industry Bodies such as Builder Association of
• India (BAI) and CII
• JV Partners
• Engineering Consultants
• Government Officials
• Construction Firms
• Consulates/ International trade delegations
• Shareholders
• Politicians
• Celebrities and Opinion Makers
• Clients 18
• Media
CAUSE OF DELAY FOR BWSL DUE TO IMPROPER
STAKHOLDER MANAGEMENT

Change in alignment
• The structure from Pier No. 34 onwards was shifted 200 m in the
sea on Worli end, changing the alignment to join at the connecting
point.
• Change in alignment resulted increase in Worli end Link Bridge
from 230 m to 811 m.
• Part of the superstructure changed from cast in situ to pre cast
segment construction style.
• Instead of single cable stay tower, a new design of separate cable
stay towers for each carriage way was introduced. The new towers
have unique specific geometric shape, having legs diverging in one
plane and conversing in another plane.
• Major changes in the foundation; the number of pile foundation 19
increased from 40 to 52.
 Contd..
• Design Changes also was a main delay factor.
• Project has been involved in various issues such as logistical,
environmental clearance and public interest litigation leading to
its delay and subsequent cost escalation.
• The original cost of this 5.6-km sea bridge was Rs 400 crore
which shot up to nearly Rs 1,400 crore. Of this, around Rs 515 is
the cost of the bridge, the rest is for developing approach roads
on both ends of the sea-link, providing a quick dispersal system,
at both ends and other expenses.
• Project was delayed by 5 years due to political issues and
environmental clearance.
• The delay was on account of a host of reasons with a slew of
public interest litigations being one of them. While the
Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC)
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awarded the contract in 2000 to HCC, work on the project started
full swing only in January 2005 after the go-ahead from the
Supreme Court came towards the end of 2004.
Contd..
Starting from its planning phase BWSLP lacks proper management, it
has violated various norms for environmental compliances that has to
be followed in India. And they are as listed below:
• Public hearing: It is to be noted that public participation is an
extremely crucial component of governance and has to be treated
seriously. Above all the affected population has a right to be
informed about any project that has been undertaken. But all the
members of local community and other concerned citizens have
stated that they were not consulted.
• Bombay environmental action group(BEAG) initiated and sent a
letter to Mumbai municipal road development authority (MMRDA)
regarding their objections, comments and suggestions however no
response was received.
• BEAG also sent a letter dated 8th of September 1998 to ministry of
environment and forest stating their objections and suggestions and
even this time there was no response. 21
Contd..
• All these incidents clearly point to the fact that the environmental
clearance was given to the project without holding a mandatory public
hearing.
• Project report not accessible for public.
• According to schedule(iv) of notice dated 10th April 1997 issued by
ministry of environment and forest, whoever applies for environmental
projects has to submit 20 sets of summary of the salient features of the
project to the concerned state pollution control board. So that it can be
made accessible for public hearing. But no particulars, maps or other
information was furnished to BEAG by MoEF.
• Coastal regulation zone violation: The state of Maharashtra and
MMRDA gave an undertaking that no reclamation should be carried out
in the Bandra-Kurla complex area and no mangrove in the Mithi River
or its estuary would be destroyed. However there has been a blatant
violation of the terms and conditions of the environmental clearance
dated 7th January 1999.
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•
Contd..
• Local communities not consulted: The fishermen affected by this
project were neither consulted nor their consent obtained. No
attempts were made to adequately rehabilitate and compensate
these fishermen for the resultant loss of their livelihood. Reclamation
caused change in the regular parking of boats in the near the Mahim
bay to shift further away causing the fishermen to walk more to
reach to their boats.
• Environmental impact assessment: EIA is a tool to ensure that finite
natural resources are utilized within the carrying capacity of the
ecosystem. It is used to minimize the harmful effects of the
development activity on the environment. According to the
notification dated 10th April 1997 issued by the MoEF, the Impact
assessment agency should prepare a set of recommendations based
on the technical assessment of documents and data furnished by the
project authorities and supplemented by data collected during visits
to factories and sites if undertaken and details of the public hearing. 23
Further EPA of 1986 and CRZ of 1991 were also not considered.
 CONCLUSION
The Bandra Worli Sea link Project has been completed in its first phase from
Bandra to Worli and is operational to the public on a day to day basis. The
project that was planned to be completed in a particular time period was
delayed severely by a number of factors and issues that took longer than
expected to resolve. The budget too was overshot by a large margin which
is now leaning towards losses for the contractor.
However, mechanically the project has turned out precisely as planned with
high quality standards and is regarded as one of the monuments of the city.
The Bandra-Worli Sea Link (BWSL) has come a long way to become an
outstanding example of precision engineering. The new Bandra-Worli Sea
Link is a symbol of the great advances of the economy and engineering
capabilities of the Indian subcontinent not only because it is the sort of
structure that could grace the skyline of any major city, but due to the
involvement of developing local manufacturing which can compete with the
world’s best in the supply of complex structural components, another
thread in the tapestry of the region’s remarkable ongoing development as a
powerhouse of the world economy. The majestic BWSL is a beautiful 24
example of perfection. It is likely to change the way bridges are constructed
in India. If the Sea Link, which is only the first phase of the Western Freeway
Sea Project, succeeds in easing the congestion on Bandra-Worli Route.