GMLR underground twin tunnel bid finalised at ₹6,301 crore

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has finalized a bid of ?6,301 crore for the construction of underground tunnels for the Goregaon Mulund Link Road (GMLR) project. The project aims to connect the western and eastern suburbs of Mumbai and will consist of twin tunnels spanning 12.20km. The construction period is expected to be 5 years.

Mumbai: Eight months after inviting bids and floating a tender for constructing the underground tunnels for the ambitious Goregaon Mulund Link Road (GMLR) project, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) finalised the bid at ₹6,301 crore on Friday and the lowest bidder was a joint venture between JKumar-NCC Ltd.

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The other two bidders Larsen and Toubro and Afcons Infrastructure Ltd also participated in the bidding process in June this year.

The GMLR project is undertaken by the BMC to connect the western and eastern suburbs. Under this project, a twin and underground tunnel is proposed to be constructed from Chitranagari in Goregaon in the western suburbs to Khindipada in Mulund in the eastern suburbs.

Elaborating on the need for the GMLR project, the BMC stated that the Santacruz-Chembur, Andheri-Ghatkopar, and Jogeshwari-Vikhroli are three expressways connecting the eastern and western suburbs of Mumbai. However, considering the increasing population and traffic in both the suburbs, the BMC took up the project of constructing the fourth expressway between Goregaon and Mulund. This road of about 12.20km will not only make it possible to cover the distance from Goregaon to Mulund in a very short time but will also save a lot of fuel.

Accordingly, civic chief Iqbal Singh Chahal in a statement issued by BMC said that currently, various road works under this project are in progress from Eastern Expressway to Khindipada Junction (Amar Nagar, Mulund) and Western Expressway to Chitranagari (Goregaon).

Since the stretch between Chitranagari (Film City) to Khindipada Junction is part of the SGNP, the BMC undertook a detailed study to add this stretch (which was the missing link).

According to his findings, it was decided to connect this phase through twin parallel and completely underground tunnels.

“The tender process for these twin tunnels with three lanes each was a very important stage. Because building this tunnel is a challenging task. Considering this, it was directed to take action in such a way that global-level companies could participate in the competition by publishing the tender advertisement for the construction of this tunnel at the international level. Accordingly, the global tender was published. With the successful completion of this tender process, the construction of GMLR will speed up,” said Chahal.

The tender for constructing the underground tunnels was first floated in October 2022. But the civic body had failed to receive any bids from eligible contractors till June 30, 2023. The overall cost of this project is pegged at ₹8,550 crore.

Additional municipal commissioner (projects) P Velrasu said that international tenders were published for the construction of twin tunnels under GMLR. Of these three companies J Kumar-NCC (joint venture), L&T and Afcons were in the final competition.

“Of these, J Kumar-NCC (JV) has placed the lowest bid. This bid is worth ₹6,301 crore. The construction of the tunnel will also be started as soon as possible,” Velrasu said.

Velrasu explained that these twin tunnels, which are parallel to each other, will be 4.70 km each.

“It will have an internal diameter of 13 metres in the SGNP area. The tunnel will go completely underground under the mountain of the sanctuary. Most importantly, this tunnel is completely eco-friendly. Because there will be no disturbance to the wildlife, water bodies, and tree resources of the SGNP. No land acquisition has to be done. The tunnel will also develop ventilation systems, updated fire prevention systems, as well as water supply, storm drains and other institutional channels. The entire tunnel will be excavated using the Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM),” Velrasu explained.

All necessary clearances from the environment and forest department have been obtained for this project.

“Therefore, the successful completion of the tender for the tunnel is a very satisfactory matter from the point of view of the administration,” he added.

The construction period of this entire tunnel is expected to be 60 months i.e. 5 years and the work of the tunnel will commence from October 2023, Velrasu added.