BMC expedites Twin Tunnel Boring Works in Mumbai

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is all set to start the tunnel boring work for the Mumbai Coastal Road Project. It will take 8 to 10 months to complete the boring through the 3.4-kilometre (km)-long twin tunnels between Priyadarshini Park at Malabar Hill and Girgaum Chowpatty. The civic body has completed about 16% of the work for the Coastal Road Project and has set a deadline of July 2023 to complete the entire project. It is re-assembling the parts of the tunnel boring machine (TBM) it purchased from China last year at the work site in Priyadarshini Park. The machine arrived in April and was taken to the site in many dismantled parts in 17 trailer trucks. The TBM will drill the 3.4-km-long twin tunnels partially running under the sea, between Girgaum and Malabar Hill, as part of the 9.98-km-long Coastal Road between Priyadarshini Park, and the Worli end of the Bandra Worli Sea Link. As there will be two parallel tunnels of 3.4-km length each, the total length of the tunnels will be 6.8 km. They will run 25 metres below the surface at Girgaum and 75 metres below the surface at Malabar Hill. The width of each tunnel will be 12 metres, with two lanes, each 3-3.2 metres wide, and one emergency lane. Pilling and excavation work at both ends of the proposed tunnel is complete and now parts of the TBM will be lowered into the ground through the shafts and assembled underground.