Mumbai: Part of Coastal Road project work gets delayed again

Workers at the under construction site of Mumbai’s Coastal Road project at Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Road as seen in May this year. Pic/Satej Shinde

With the election year ahead, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray had flagged off the construction work on the south bound tunnel of the Coastal Road Project in January. The CM had said that it would be completed by October this year. However, the BMC's ruling party is now claiming that at least one part of the Coastal Road's underwater tunnel is to be delayed. The tunnel boring machine (TBM) has only managed to bore 800 metres so far, way lesser than the expected 2.072 kilometres.

The Shiv Sena chief along with Yuva Sena chief and Cabinet Minister Aaditya Thackeray have been seen inaugurating various works done by the BMC and other agencies in the city, with an eye on civic elections likely to be held early next year. The plan was to finish work on one tunnel before the election code of conduct kicks in, to show the city the achievements of the ruling party.

The project worth Rs 12,000 crore, apart from including the reclamation of the sea and construction of a sea wall also includes two underwater tunnels - south and north-bound. Both these tunnels are about 2.072 kilometres each in length. These tunnels are to be one of the highlights of the project as it is for the first time in the country that work on this level is being executed. After the completion of one tunnel, TBM will take at least another two to three months to be dismantled and re-installed and brought back to the Priyadarshini Garden work site for boring the second tunnel. The initial plan was to do this early next year. Now, it looks like there could be a delay.

While 80 per cent of the sea wall work is completed, almost 90 per cent of the reclamation work is done. A civic official said, "The entire project is pegged to be completed by the end of 2023. It was this work on the Coastal Road which was to be showcased to the citizens, but it has been delayed."

Vijay Nigot, chief engineer of Coastal Road project, informed, "Due to the second wave, our work also got pushed as the technical and expert support was delayed owing to restrictions. We are hoping to complete it by January 2022."

Rs 12KCR
Total cost of the Coastal Road Project in the city