Search for the casting yard of the Goregoan-Mulund Link Road (GMLR), a project proposed by Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), still continues. A senior civic official confirmed to The Indian Express that they have kept both options available for the selected contractor. One, the contractors themselves identify the casting yard land and BMC will pay rentals in return, and the second, the BMC will identify the casting yard land and give it to the contractor for the work. However, the official added, that they want the land for the casting yard to be within Mumbai so that GMLR work can be executed at war footing level. For the proposed GMLR project, tenders have already been floated and BMC will take another month to finish all tender related work, the official said. BMC aims at beginning work by October this year. Till the time the customised tunnel boring machine reaches Mumbai, they will begin other related work, the official said. The GMLR project has been divided into four phases, wherein the fourth phase twin tunnel will be constructed below the Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) with a box tunnel in Film city, Goregaon. The proposed length of twin tunnel is around 4.70 km each, with the diameter measuring 13 metres. While the approximate length of box tunnel within Film City is 1.60 km, the tunnel depth varies from 20 mt to 160 mt approximately. Cross passages will be available every 300 metres. Meanwhile, the total length of GMLR is 12.20 km, which includes 6.3 km tunnels, 4.37 km elevated flyover and the remaining 1.53 km of grade road. This link between eastern suburbs and western suburbs will not only decongest Mumbai suburbs of neck to neck traffic, but also reduce travel time from 75 minutes to 20-25 minutes.
