BMC is set to construct a four-lane underground tunnel between Kandivli and Malad for the Coastal Road.
Of the 60,000 in the project’s influence zone, 45,000 will be impacted and around 9,000 permanently felled. She fears the lost green cover will be replaced by noise and pollution.
Dhaval Shah of Lokhandwala Oshiwara Citizens Association said it would cut travel time and ease congestion on Western Express Highway. Civic officials said compensatory afforestation would be undertaken in Bhayander and Chandrapur near Tadoba forest. Coastal Road (North) is expected to ease suburban traffic. But environmentalist Mili Shetty flagged the impact on mangroves.
With a cutterhead diameter of 15.6 metres, these are among the largest of their kind to be deployed for a road tunnel project in India. The fully assembled machine is 87 metres long. The TBMs are scheduled to be launched in May 2027. The finished diameter of each tunnel will be 14.2 metres.
Because actual ground and operating conditions cannot be replicated at the factory, the official said, this is.
“We inspected all the machine parameters, including the rotation of the cutterhead, functioning of the shield, grouting system, pressure levels and thrust jacks that propel the TBM forward, as well as the segment-lifting mechanism,” said an official. This differs from the south Coastal Road project, where reclaimed land provided some room to handle and store construction material,” a BMC official said. The alignment passes through creek and mangrove areas, where space constraints, difficult ground conditions and unexpected geological findings have added to the complexity of design and construction, the official said.
Coastal Road (North), or Versova Dahisar Link Road (VDLR), will be a 22km alignment including roads on land, elevated sections and stilts as well as a cable-stayed bridge and a cut-and-cover tunnel beneath a creek. The TBMs will take on the most important task. A team of BMC officials visited the Herrenknecht India Private Limited plant in Chennai recently to conduct a factory acceptance test (FAT) on one of the two machines. The geological conditions along the alignment are also expected to pose challenges. The BMC has appointed Megha Engineering & Infrastructures Ltd (MEIL) as the contractor for this stretch. The team also checked the mechanical and electrical systems, ventilation, air pressure, operator cabins and the control cabin, which monitors pressure across the machine. The TBM components were shipped from Germany to Chennai in parts and assembled at the factory. a second round of site acceptance tests will be conducted after it is transported to the tunnel-launching site While the factory acceptance test checks the functioning of the machine and its various systems. The machine will undergo these checks before tunnel boring begins. Work on the launch shaft at Charkop, spread across a 31m x 120m site, began in August. The scale of the machines sets the project apart from Mumbai’s existing road tunnels (see graphic). “There is little space to store the machines’ large components along the alignment.
