On the 11/01/2021 the official launching ceremony for the TBM named Mavala was held, to see the ceremony please click here for the video.
The TBM will dig the 3.45 km twin tunnel from Princess Street flyover to Priyadarshini Park, which will pass below Girgaum Chowpatty, Malabar Hills and exit at Priyadarshini Park, as part of the 9.98-km-long Mumbai Coastal Road.
The Mumbai Coastal Road project is divided into three packages between Priyadarshini Park to Baroda Palace (Package-01), Baroda Palace to the South-end of Bandra Worli Sea Link (Package-02), and Princess Street Flyover to Priyadarshini Park (Package-04). In 2018 Larsen & Toubro secured the Package-04 contract involving the construction of a 3.93 Km stretch of coastal road from Princess Street Flyover to Priyadarshini Park, which includes the twin tunnel.
The Slurry TBM (diameter 12.19 m), named after the soldiers of 17th Century Maratha king Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, was manufactured by China Railway Construction Heavy Industry Co. Ltd. (CRCHI) and arrived last April at the worksite at Priyadarshini Park in Malabar Hill after about 9300 km (5000+ nautical mile) journey from Shanghai Port to Mumbai's Jawarhalal Nehru Port. Assembly works started in September and its shields including an Indian-flag themed cutterhead, were lowered onto the ramp in December 2020. The TBM will drive 25 m below the surface at Girgaum and 75 m below Malabar Hill. The width of each tunnel will be 12 m, with two lanes – each 3-3.2 m wide – and one emergency lane.
For the next 18 months, about 100 workers will work day and night to complete the tunnelling by June 2022. The entire coastal road is expected to be ready by mid-2023. The 9-kilometre-long stretch of the coastal road is being constructed by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).
The BMC claims to have completed over 20 % of the work for the Coastal Road Project and has set a deadline of July 2023 to complete the entire project. The work of the first tunnel is expected to be completed by August-September 2021.
Post-construction of the Coastal Road, motorists will be able to reach Worli from Nariman Point within minutes. However, beyond this towards the western suburbs, the state government is yet to decide on the construction of a sea link or a coastal road beyond Versova. For further information please click here and in/59 for the tunnelbuilder archive. Visit https://portal.mcgm.gov.in/irj/portal/anonymous/qlcoastal1. 02/21.
