Tunneling for Rs 13,000 crore Coastal Road project to begin in August

Tunnel boring machines imported from China are expected to reach Mumbai this April.

While piling and reclamation work for the Rs13,000 crore Coastal Road project continues, the next step involves making two tunnels in South Mumbai. Civic officials said that the digging of the tunnels would begin in August and will be completed in a year from then.

A senior civic official said that the tunnel boring machine is being imported from China and would reach Mumbai in April. "We are getting the largest tunnel boring machine for the project, which can complete the work in a more efficient manner and will ensure the least amount of disruption. Setting up of the equipment will take a month or two.

However, we don't have to wait till the end of the monsoon season to start the digging work," said the official. He added that the digging would start at Priyadarshini Park.

He added that the machine measures 11.5 metres in diameter and will be used to dig two tunnels of 12.2 metres diameter each. There will be an entry and exit stretch that will make the final length of the tunnels 3.4 metre. "Each will have three lanes each. While the tunneling work will take around a year, we will simultaneously start working on the piers in the sea as well," said the official.

After dealing with a long list of litigations, the BMC finally got the nod for the road from the Supreme Court earlier this year. Hoping to make up for a delay of more than a year, the civic body has started the work in full swing. This year, the BMC allocated R2,000 crore for the project, the highest so far.

Rs 2k cr
The amount allocated to the Coastal Road project by the BMC this year

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