Kolkata’s iconic Howrah Bridge to undergo overhaul, health audit

A wooden boat on the Hooghly River. India’s longest cable bridge connects Kolkata city to Howrah district. , Photo Credit: Getty Images

Kolkata’s iconic Howrah Bridge is likely to undergo an overhaul and health audit to enhance the longevity of the 80-year-old structure. Apart from routine maintenance of the structure, scraping of old mastic of the Howrah Bridge, which connects the twin cities of Howrah and Kolkata over the Hooghly river, has already begun this month.

Rathendra Raman, chairman of Kolkata’s Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Port (SPMP), which maintains the structure, said on May 24 that experts from the National Technology Center for Ports, Waterways and Coasts (NTCPWC) at the Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai, would conduct a health check of the structure. engaged for. SPMP engineers informed that experts were on the ground and the health of the entire structure from top to bottom was being assessed.

Read also: How Howrah Bridge got its iconic design?

“They [the experts] Will suggest what measures should be taken to increase the life of Howrah Bridge. We all know that heavy vehicles have been shifted to Vidyasagar Setu, yet Howrah Bridge remains a major means of connectivity, especially to Howrah station. Hence, the importance of Howrah Bridge will continue,” said an SPMP official. The last time such a detailed exercise was done was in the 1990s and the process went on till 2003. The SPMP chairman said that vehicular traffic will not be affected during the exercise. The construction of balanced cantilever Howrah Bridge began in 1935 and was completed in 1942.

bascule bridge overhaul

Mr Raman said the SPMP was also looking to overhaul the Baskul bridge, another engineering marvel that sits on top of a narrow bay that allows ships and boats from Hooghly to enter the Kidderpur dockyard. He said the cost of the overhaul would be around Rs 71 crore. Mr. Raman, who recently took charge of the 153-year-old institution, said the port made a financial turnaround with a net surplus of ₹65.13 crore in 2018-19 and a net surplus of ₹304.07 crore in the year 2022- 23 He said that the cargo handling of the port increased by 12.87% to 65.66 million metric tonnes.

On future plans, Mr. Raman said that the port complex comprising Haldia and Kolkata ports would enhance cargo handling to 130 million metric tonnes by 2023 and develop itself as a green port.