40 percent work of Mumbai coastal road project complete: Civic chief

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has completed 40 per cent physical work of the Rs 12,000 crore-worth coastal road project from Marine Drive to Worli, including a one-km-long tunnel, BMC Commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal said on Thursday. The project will be completed in November 2023, he said in a statement.
The work completed so far includes a tunnel of one-km length and 40-feet diameter under the Malabar Hill in south Mumbai. Only work on 900 metres of the tunnel is remaining now, Chahal said.

It is the "first-of-its kind" under-sea tunnel project of 40-feet diameter executed in the country, he claimed.

According to Chahal, the coastal road project being executed by the civic body between Marine Drive and Worli is 27-km-long and includes 16-km-long interchanges.

The project also includes a 125-acre garden on the reclaimed land abutting the coastal road with an underground parking facility for 1,852 cars.

"The work is going on round-the-clock in three shifts and the project will be completed in November 2023," Chahal stated.

As per BMC's website, the civic body has envisaged the Mumbai coastal road project-south (MCRP) along the western seafront of the city to de-congest the existing roads.

In the first phase, this ambitious eight-lane project intends to connect Shamaldas Gandhi Marg (Princess Street Flyover, Marine Drive) in south Mumbai to the Worli-end of the Bandra-Worli sealink, comprising a combination of coastal road based on reclamation, tunnels, flyovers, elevated roads, interchanges and sea wall/break wall, it said.

As per the website, India's largest 12.19-metre-diameter tunnel is being constructed 20 metres below the shore of the Arabian Sea and 70 metres below the Malabar Hill and has three lanes for transportation for south and north bound traffic.

One of the lanes is proposed to be reserved for emergency transport, according to the BMC.

"The objective of this project is to provide an alternate North-South Trunk route for the people of Mumbai which provides improved mobility to relieve the traffic congestion in Mumbai, enhances environment and leads to sustainable development of much needed recreational public open spaces," says the BMC's website.