To ease traffic movement through the GMLR, BMC will be creating a twin tunnel and one box tunnel that will run beneath the surface of the Sanjay Gandhi National Park and Film City. (File)The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has floated fresh tenders for building two underground tunnels for its ambitious Goregaon Mulund Link Road (GMLR) project, three weeks after it scrapped the previous tenders.
The GMLR project will create an east-west corridor for traffic movement, connecting Mulund in the eastern suburbs with Goregaon in the western suburbs. Currently, there is no direct connectivity between these areas and commuters have to take a detour from either Ghodbunder Road in Thane or from Powai. Both these roads remain clogged with traffic during peak hours.
To ease traffic movement through the GMLR, BMC will be creating a twin tunnel and one box tunnel that will run beneath the surface of the Sanjay Gandhi National Park and Film City. As per the project plan, each twin tunnel will be 4.7 km long, while the box tunnel will be 1.6 km long.
The BMC had floated two separate tenders for creating the tunnels back in 2020. However, these tenders were scrapped in September 2022. P Velrasu, additional municipal commissioner (projects), BMC, said the previous tenders had to be scrapped since the main company which had won the bidding went bankrupt.
Now, the civic body has floated fresh tenders by clubbing the construction works of the box and twin tunnels into one tender. The cost of the latest tender for building the tunnels is estimated to be Rs 6,322 crore, which is 35% higher than the previous tender. In 2020, the estimated cost of the project was Rs 4,700 crore.
“The clauses of the previous tenders stated that parties that have a minimum experience of boring a 100-metre long tunnel will be eligible for taking part in the bidding. This time we have removed this clause and stated that all the players should have a proper understanding of how tunnel boring machine work is done and what are the geographical and technical constraints associated with it. This will allow more players to participate in the bidding, which will help us get more options. The overall technical aspects of the new tender is the same compared to what it was earlier and only the clauses have been freshly drafted,” Velrasu told The Indian Express on Saturday.
He also said the reason behind the cost escalation was the fact that two projects have been merged into one, which would require additional logistics and manpower. The approximate diameter for each tunnel would be around 13 metres and the depth will vary between 20 metres and 160 metres.
The new clauses added by the BMC include advanced ventilation and lighting system, along with electronic surveillance. It has also set a provision of creating a linear heat detection system. The tender document also states that within every 500 metres, there will be SOS boxes that can be used by commuters in case of any emergency.
The overall length of the project will be around 12.2 km and the total cost of the project now stands at Rs 8,550 crore. The project has been divided into four phases, which includes construction of an elevated flyover, widening of the road, improvement of the existing intersections, creating the twin and box tunnels and connecting the GMLR in the end with the Eastern and Western Express Highways.
Civic officials said the BMC intends to start work on the twin tunnels by March next year.