The project, consisting of a tunnel, a road, and an interchange, aims to connect south Mumbai to the Worli end of the Worli-Bandra Sea Link through a high-speed corridor. (Express Photo: Ganesh Shirsekar) The BMC has completed 40 per cent of work on the 10.58-km-long Coastal Road project between Nariman Point and Worli, including a 1-km tunnel below Malabar Hill, Municipal Commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal said on Thursday.
The Rs 12,721 crore worth project is likely to be complete by the end of 2023. The road will begin at Marine Drive to the south end of Bandra Worli Sea Link (BWSL).
The project, consisting of a tunnel, a road, and an interchange, aims to connect south Mumbai to the Worli end of the Worli-Bandra Sea Link through a high-speed corridor.
The coastal road project between Princess Street flyover and Worli-end of Bandra-Worli sea link was expected to be ready by July 2023.
The Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM), with its diameter of 12.19-meters, is said to be the country’s biggest road tunnel boring machine. It weighs 2,300 tonnes and is 80-meters long.
The machine is digging on an average of 8-10 meters per day and around 20 meters below the ground at the Priyadarshini park site.
The country’s first undersea tunnel is a set of twin tunnels one for each carriageway. The length of each is 2.07 km from Priyadarshini park to Chotti Chowpatty at Marine drive, close to the landmark Chowpatty beach at Girgaum.
The Covid-19 pandemic had delayed the delivery of the TBM from China. Also, the BMC had to tweak its plan to not use Chinese experts for assembling the TBM in the backdrop of border tensions with the country.
Chahal added, “Work on the 1-km tunnel is complete with a 40-feet diameter under Malabar Hill. Only 900 meters of the tunnel remains now.”
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