Mumbai: The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), which is constructing the ambitious coastal road in the city, said that 90 percent of the tunnelling work for the second tunnel is already completed. The road has two tunnels of 2,070 metres each.
Confirming the development, Chief Engineer for Coastal Roads Mantayya Swami, said, “The first tunnel was completed in January this year. The second one started in end-April, and we are set to finish it by the end of December. That makes it eight months, which is even quicker than the time taken on the first tunnel.”
The tunnel is being constructed between Priyadarshini Park and Marine Drive using India’s largest tunnel-boring machine (TBM) ‘Mavala’. The BMC on November 22 had shared that 65 percent of the overall work on the 10.58-kilometre-long coastal road was already completed, and reiterated that the project will meet the November 2023 deadline for opening the road.
Recreational facilities and citizens’ services along the road, however, will take at least another two years to see the light of day. On September 30, the BMC was allowed by the Supreme Court to continue with the construction of these facilities which will take up 70 to 75 percent of the reclaimed area. The coastal road itself will occupy only 25 to 30 percent.
The recreational and facilities area, a whopping 75,31,525 square feet, will be used to construct toilets, a jogging track, a cycle track, a butterfly park, a marine walkway, an open theatre, children’s parks and playgrounds, a police post and bus-stops. There will also be an underpass to cross the road as well as a jetty.