BMC gets approval for twin underwater tunnels

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has secured permission to start boring works for the underwater twin tunnels of 2-km and three lanes each. The assembling of heavy machinery, weighing over 500 tons, has already been started. Even as BMC has completed land reclamation of 64 hectares, there are concerns over permissions for an additional 21 hectares from the Ministry of Environment and Forest for Climate Change. The work on the tunnel will be heavier than that carried out for Metro III owing to a larger diameter of 12.2 metres. BMC has informed that the tunnel will be the largest in the country for which the construction work is also being monitored by Environment, Tourism and Protocol Minister Aaditya Thackeray. Covering the distance between Priyadarshini Park and the Princess Street flyover at Marine Drive, piling work for the tunnel's road is being carried out alongside. The civic body needs additional space for the road as there are small changes in the original plan and also for the construction of the sea wall. The proposal for it has been put up before the Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority (MCZMA).