Mumbai Coastal Road Project: BMC completes boring work for second underground tunnel

The 2.07-kilometre twin tunnels are made using a Chinese Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM), Mavala, named after Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj’s mountain warfare experts.

The digging works were initiated in January 2021 from Priyadarshini Park (PDP), and the breakthrough of the first tunnel was achieved in January 2022.

Following this, the TBM was pushed leftwards, towards the side of the north-bound tunnel, by using a hydraulic-jack powered turn-table which helped in rotating the TBM by 180 degrees.

The final breakthrough was carried out in the presence of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.

The area around the breakthrough point was painted with tri-colour and a national flag was also set up a few metres above the cutter head.

Mantayya Swami, chief engineer of MCRP, said that the TBM was placed 30 centimetres behind the breakthrough point and after CM Shinde, pressed the buzzer, the spokes of the TBM moved forward thus cutting away the surface. It took nearly eight minutes on Tuesday to cut the final 30 cm of the tunnel.

After the breakthrough, CM Shinde cited that this project is going to be an engineering marvel that is going to change the way how Mumbai commutes.

“The MCRP is going to be a first step towards solving the city’s traffic congestion problems by a significant margin. This is just the first phase of the project and in the following days to come, we will expand the coastal road furthermore towards the suburbs, till Dahisar, Mira Road and Bhayander,” Shinde said.

Meanwhile, Fadnavis credited the Central government for the fast-paced progress of this project. “The TBM Mavala lived up to its name. The MCRP was conceptualised years ago but it remained on papers… it was only after the Modi government came to power that the project gained its much-needed push,” Fadnavis said Tuesday.

The 10.58-kilometre MCRP is being built to ease vehicular commute in Mumbai. The high speed corridor will connect the Marine Drive with the Bandra Worli Sea Link (BWSL) through a series of arterial roads, underground tunnels and vehicular interchanges.

The high-point of this project is going to be the twin tunnels that will pass beneath the Arabian Sea, thus becoming India’s first undersea tunnel.

Ashwini Bhide, Additional Municipal Commissioner, who is spearheading the project, said that the road will be opened for public usage by November 2023.

“The initial deadline of commissioning the project is November 2023. By this period, we are aiming towards opening the corridor partially and by May 2024, the entire road will be opened for public usage. We are working on the details about the portions that we aim to open in the first phase and there will be a clarity on this soon,” Bhide told The Indian Express.