Mumbai: The BMC, in a record time, completed a 3.6 km-long excavation of the first phase of the water tunnel from Amar Mahal at Chembur up to Trombay. Around 55 per cent of this project has been finished, and it is expected to be completed by October 2024. Thereafter, the water supply in Govandi, Mankhurd, and Chembur areas will improve, claims the BMC authorities.
The 5.52 km long tunnel originates underneath the Amar Mahal at Chembur and will be extended to the Trombay low reservoir and Trombay high reservoir. After almost a decade since the announcement of the project, the BMC started excavation of the first phase of this project last year on March 6. The first phase of a 3.6 km-long excavation of an underground water tunnel was carried out from Amar Mahal to Trombay low reservoir. Even during the pandemic, the work was carried out without interruption. So on Friday, the BMC completed the work of the first phase in one year and two months.
The BMC has appointed M/s. Tata consulting engineers ltd. as a project consultant and M/s. Patel engineering ltd as a contractor for this project. But for excavation work, a tunnel mining machine (TBM) was installed in Hegdewar garden. "The tunnel is being constructed beneath 100 to 110 meters and its diameter is 3.2 metres. Despite many hurdles in excavation work, the TBM machine has excavated 653 metres in record time in January. Simultaneously, the civic body achieved the feat of digging more than 40 metres twice in one day.
