BMC hires consultant to find out why tunnel on freeway is leaking

The eastern freeway twin tunnels near Chembur have been facing leakage issues for a while. Pic/Shadab Khan

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has appointed a consultant to study the source of leakage on the eastern freeway and recommend solutions to fix it. The infrastructure project, which is not even a decade old, has already started running into problems. Commuters have been facing the leakage problem inside the Anik Panjrapole tunnel. However, once the civic body receives the report, it will also take up repair work of the uneven road surface. A proposal regarding the same was passed by the standing committee on Wednesday.

The freeway, that was constructed by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) and handed over to the BMC for maintenance, has proved to be the most important link between South Mumbai and the eastern suburbs. The 16-km-long stretch has reduced travel time to 40 minutes, which was approximately one-and-a-half hours previously.

For the last few years the stretch inside the twin tunnels has been facing leakage issues, and this made the freeway all the more risky during monsoon. Despite attempts to identify the issues, civic officials have failed to find out the source of leakage. Considering the risk of accidents due to the slippery road surface, the civic body has given a contract of Rs 23 lakh to Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute to identify the source of leakage, recommend solutions and submit a report within a month.

Recently the civic body started lighting work inside the tunnels, and now along with fixing the leakage it plans to take up repair work of the elevated road and approach road near Panjrapole. The project cost has been pegged at Rs 73 crore.

"The consultant will be responsible for studying and recommending the corrective measures. Once the report is submitted by them, we will invite tenders for repair works," said Yashwant Jadhav, chairman of the Standing Committee.

Rs 23 lakh
Amount given to VJTI to find the source of the leakage

Rs 73 crore
Total cost of the project for repairing the stretch