Revenue from Kolkata bridge hit as Bengal economy grew slowly: Company

Kolkata, Sep 18 (IANS) The low count of vehicles plying on the six-lane Sister Nivedita Bridge between the twin cities of Kolkata and Howrah across the Hooghly river has impacted the revenue of the bridge operator -- the Second Vivekananda Bridge Tollway Company (SVBTC), the company said on Monday.

According to the company, the number of vehicles using the bridge is a third of its capacity even after a decade of its completion, primarily because of the slower-than-expected growth of West Bengal's economy.

The company, however, said they were expecting to break even and make a profit in the next two to three years.

The Sister Nivedita Bridge, earlier called the Second Vivekananda Bridge, was constructed in 2007. The 6.1-km Second Vivekananda Bridge Tollway Project includes the 880-meter-long main bridge over the Hooghly as also the approach roads.

"The six-lane bridge was built with the capacity of plying 1.45 lakh Passenger Car Units (PCU) per day in 2007, but presently 45 thousand PCUs are plying through the bridge every day as the growth of traffic has been half of what was expected in the last five years," Lala K.K. Roy, the company's Director - Corporate Development and Governance, said at a media meet, marking 10 years of the completion and operation of the bridge.

"The revenue generation was very poor in the first few years. Now the revenue generation is sufficient for meeting the maintenance expenditure of the asset (bridge).

"We expected to make a profit from the fifth year of operation. However, that did not happen due to the slow growth of state's economy. We are expecting to make profit in the next two to three years," he said.

The company signed a 30-year concession agreement, including three years of construction period, with the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to finance, design, built, operate and maintain the bridge and has 17 years left in the contract.

In spite of connecting four national highways and significant industrial areas in the state, only three per cent of the vehicles plying on the bridge were inter-state vehicles, with the rest being local and state transport, Roy said.

The bridge, which works as a crucial link between NH 2, NH 6 on the west, and NH 34, NH 35 on the east of the Hooghly river, is also facing an encroachment problem as a temporary bus stand and truck terminus have been built under the bridge.

"There was a truck terminus in the area before the bridge was built that shifted elsewhere during its construction. But now the land below the bridge has been encroached upon and a bus stand and truck terminus have been built. There is a chance that movement of these vehicles might damage the bridge," Roy said.

Refuting reports of damage to one of the bridge piers, the company said the maintenance work was a part of routine activity as there was significant erosion of the river bed near pier No. 4 of the bridge.

The Sister Nivedita Bridge is one of the four bridges connecting Kolkata and Howrah. The others are Rabindra Setu (the iconic Howrah Bridge), Vidyasagar Setu (Second Hooghly Bridge) and Vivekananda Setu (Bally Bridge).

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