Forest dept to the rescue of old bridge

KOCHI: The renovation of Old Thoppumpady Bridge (Harbour Bridge) received a major boost from the forest department which has promised to provide the rare timber, 'Thambakam' (Iron wood of Malabar), required for executing the work.
However, forest officials said that procuring 'Thambakam' would take time as these trees were found only in deep forests.As of now, these trees are seen in forest areas in Thiruvananthapuram. "They are not grown on a commercial basis, and rarely auctioned at the department's depots," said assistant conservator of forest D Rajendran. The transportation cost would be huge as the trees have to be cut down and transported through the jungle.
Though the Public Works Department (PWD) and Greater Cochin Development Authority (GCDA) were keen on renovating the bridge, contractors were unwilling to take up the work due to huge costs involved in procuring 'Thambakam'.
Both agencies took up the matter with the state government as reopening the bridge would help to decongest roads linking the city and west Kochi.
"The forest department has offered to provide the required timber, and a request has been made to them in this regard. We expect to get the cabinet nod for the project," said Kochi MLA Dominic Presentation. Earlier, PWD had invited tenders for the project at an estimated cost of Rs 78 lakh. But contractors demanded 49% more, citing costs involved in procuring timber. As per existing norms, PWD can only sanction an increase of 25% from the estimated cost.
The old bridge was commissioned in 1939, three years after the formation of Cochin Port Trust (CPT). It is one of the oldest steel and lift-span bridge. The CPT, which had retained the ownership of the bridge for a long time, later handed it over to PWD. With the opening of the Mattancherry BOT bridge, the movement of traffic along the old bridge was restricted. Even though GCDA came forward to renovate the old bridge, the PWD refused to hand it over to the authority.
GCDA chairman N Venugopal said that light motor vehicles such as cars and jeeps, three-wheelers and two-wheelers could use the old bridge.