PM to launch work on inter-district Mumbai-Thane Tunnel Project

Mumbai, July 13 (IANS) Prime Minister Narendra Modi will perform the ground breaking ceremony on Saturday for the prestigious inter-district tunnel linking Borivali (in Mumbai) and Ghodbunder Road (in Thane), slated to come up at a cost of over Rs 16,600 crore.The Borivali Thane Tunnel Project will be the second twin-tunnel system passing under the Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP), creating a short and direct link between the Eastern Express Highway and Western Express Highway.According to officials, at present the Borivali-Thane distance is around 23 km and it can take between 60-100 minutes for vehicles to clear.However, once the new twin tunnel is ready in the next five years, the distance will be slashed by some 12 km reducing commute time to 20 minutes.Following the go-ahead to the mega-project from Maharashtra State Wildlife Board in October 2023, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) started the initial process to construct the ambitious project, cutting underneath the lush green SGNP, which is teeming with wildlife including leopards.As per the project plans, envisaged around 10 years ago, the MMRDA will construct the four-lane subterranean road, plus an emergency lane in both the twin tubes, or six lanes in each direction, for the mega-project costing more than Rs 16,600 crore, including land acquisition, with a completion target of five years.The twin-tunnel road will be around 11.08 km, comprising the main tunnel that will be 10.25 km-long plus an approach road of 1.55 km.The diameter of each tunnel will be 13.05 metres, enabling vehicles to zip through at speeds of over 80 kmph.A dedicated ventilation system shall be provided all through the tunnel, with cross passages at every 300 metres, fire extinguishers, smoke detectors, LED lights etc for safety, maintenance and for the convenience of users.It will be constructed in several tranches, two of which shall be built by Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Ltd., and four tunnel boring machines shall be deployed for the digging work.The twin-tube tunnel road’s construction will require about 46.57 hectares of land, of which nearly 35.54 hectares is a forested area under the control of the state government, mandating the MSWB’s prior approval before starting construction, plus resettling six villages falling on its route map.Besides huge savings in time, fuel and costs, the new twin-tunnel road will provide a direct link between Ghodbunder Road in Thane (east) and Western Express Highway in Borivali (west), with around 50,000 PCUs expected to use it daily, and there will be other manifold ecological and commercial benefits from this project.The MMRDA had stated in a project survey report that the Ghodbunder Road (SH-42) linking NH-3 and NH-8 is oversaturated, necessitating the need for an alternate route on this busy section at the northern end of the eastern and western suburbs of Mumbai connecting with Thane.(Quaid Najmi can be contacted at: [email protected])-IANSqn/rad