Under one of the most significant green recreational open spaces in Mumbai, the coastline at the southernmost tip of the economic capital is altering at the speed of 3 metres per day. The country’s most significant Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM)- Mavala has been at work for nearly a month, 20 metres beneath Priyadarshini Park at Nepean Sea Road, according to an IE report. From there, the TBM is burrowing metre-by-metre beneath Malabar Hill, towards its major challenge, an undersea portion aligned to Marine Drive, as aspect of the Mumbai Coastal Road project, worth Rs 12,721 crore. The project, comprising a road, a tunnel as properly as an interchange, aims to hyperlink South Mumbai to the finish of Worli, of the Worli-Bandra Sea Link via a higher-speed corridor.
India’s initial undersea tunnel is in fact a twin tunnels’ set, one for every single website traffic carriageway. The length of the tunnel is 2.07 kilometre from Priyadarshi Park to Chhoti Chowpatty at Marine Drive, close to Chowpatty beach at Girgaum. Starting from January 11, when Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray inaugurated Mavala, the TBM has drilled 30 metres of the tunnel deep beneath the city’s most highly-priced genuine estate so far. With a diameter of 12.19 metres, the TBM is mentioned to be the most significant machine of its type in India. It is 80 metres lengthy and weighs 2,300 tonnes. Still, almost 50 metres of the TBM is in the launching shaft exactly where the employees of Larsen & Toubro, engineers and labourers are at work. According to officials at the web page, the TBM would have burrowed sufficient in a further fortnight to disappear into the tunnel which it is drilling.
According to the report, Priyadarshini Park was set up on reclaimed land, and the park’s 80-one hundred metres falls in the intertidal sea region. The tunnel will meet the sea on Malabar Hill’s other side, at Walkeshwar. From there, the tunnel will hug Marine Drive for about half a km beneath the sea, prior to opening to a connecting road overland, 4 kilometres to Nariman Point. At the finish of Priyadarshini Park, the tunnel will hyperlink to a road to Haji Ali.
With this project, the coastline in South Mumbai is set to transform. The road will extend the coast inside the sea up to one hundred metres length. It has been planned by the BMC that 111 hectares will be reclaimed, which is 12 occasions the size of Oval Maidan at Churchgate. The civic body has completed about 80 hectares out of the 111-hectare land reclamation necessary for the project.
According to officials at the web page, the TBM can day-to-day drill up to 10 metres, and it is at present boring the southbound website traffic tunnel. To full drilling for one tunnel, it will take about nine months. At Chhoti Chowpatty, the TBM will be removed and for boring the northbound website traffic tunnel, it will be transported back to Priyadarshini Park. It will take about two years to full the whole approach of tunneling, mentioned Vishal Thombare, Executive Engineer with the Coastal Road division.
The report additional mentioned that a big Slurry Treatment Plant has been set up close to the launching shaft of the TBM. The Slurry Treatment Plant separates the soil, stones and water round the clock. At the building web page, diggers, dumpers and cranes are at work constantly, handling material for reclamation as properly as building. Several workers, mainly migrants from the states of Odisha and Andhra Pradesh, are working in two shifts. Work is probably to be more than in July 2023. However, officials hope to full the work sooner, provided there are no hurdles like land acquisition or shifting of men and women.
Ashwini Bhide, Additional Municipal Commissioner, was quoted in the report saying that they need to have seamless connectivity from the city’s southern tip to the northern side. In terms of time, there would be an nearly 70% reduction with this road. According to her, one will be in a position to attain from Princess Street flyover to Worli in just 10 to 12 minutes with 35% saving on consumption of fuel to cover more than 10 kilometres. She additional mentioned that the project will add more open spaces as properly as continuous promenade from Priyadarshini Park to Worli. Till now, 22% of physical work has been completed, and most of the work was completed in the final six-seven months following the court remain was vacated, she added.