Fresh seepage surfaces in Coastal Road tunnel; BMC says structure safe

“The tunnel is structurally safe and is under continuous monitoring,” a civic official said.

Built at a cost of Rs 5,821 crore, the twin tunnels account for nearly 35 per cent of the Rs 16,621-crore Mumbai Coastal Road project.

BMC engineers said minor seepage is not uncommon in underground tunnels along the coastline, particularly during spells of intense rainfall when hydrostatic pressure increases. They said limited water ingress through construction or expansion joints is permissible under international engineering standards and is addressed through routine maintenance.

The latest incident comes as Mumbai’s transport infrastructure has come under severe strain from incessant rain, with road cave-ins, waterlogging, railway disruptions and the partial collapse of a section of the Mumbai-Pune Expressway Missing Link project raising concerns over the resilience of recently built infrastructure.

This is the second reported instance of seepage since the Coastal Road tunnels opened. In May 2024, water seeped through two expansion joints in the southbound tunnel shortly after its inauguration, following which the BMC carried out similar repair work.