Second Vivekananda Bridge, Kolkata, India

A need for capacity augmentation for the Vivekananda Bridge across River Hooghly connecting the twin city of Kolkata and Howrah, in the vicinity of Dakshineshwar, near Kolkata, was felt and the initiative started with a techno-economic feasibility study. The initiative further developed into the largest BOT project in the bridge sector in India which promoted by an international consortium. In this process, the designs were carried out accommodating various concerns, both technical, like river regime and constructability and non-technical, like environmental issues, land acquisition and resource mobilization. It was taken on concession for a period of thirty years, including three years for construction. The facility was thrown open to public on July 4th 2007, within the time frame and cost.. The paper describes the process of conceptualization all through to implementation, realization and operation and maintenance.