Mumbai coastal road: BMC completes 1km of tunnelling work

Imported from China in May 2020 and assembled here, it is the country’s largest TBM, with a diameter of 12.9 metres

India’s largest tunnel boring machine (TBM) — Mavla — that is being used for tunnelling work for Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) ambitious coastal road project, has completed one-kilometre work on Saturday, at 11.40pm. The tunnel boring work began in January 2021.

Work is ongoing on the south-bound arm of the tunnel, where 1km of boring work was completed on Saturday.

Imported from China in May 2020 and assembled here, it is the country’s largest TBM, with a diameter of 12.9 metres.

The 10.58km coastal road that will connect Nariman Point to Bandra Worli Sea Link has twin tunnels of 2.07km, connecting Girgaum Chowpatty to Malabar Hill. Each underground tunnel will have three lanes at a depth of 70 meters. Work is ongoing on the south-bound arm of the tunnel, where 1km of boring work was completed on Saturday. The remaining kilometre of this tunnel will be completed by January.

As per BMC’s original plan, the tunnelling work on both tunnels is expected to be completed within 18 months. BMC lost three months of time after tunnelling work started, during city-wide restrictions since March 2021, amid the second wave of Covid-19.

Vijay Nighot, chief engineer of the coastal road department said, “The civic body lost a total of 6 months due to restrictions imposed because of covid-19. The deadline for completion of the project is December 2023.”