BMC Begins Tunnel Boring Work Under SGNP for Goregaon-Mulund Link Road
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation on Monday officially commenced the excavation of the first of two 5.3-kilometre-long tunnels beneath Sanjay Gandhi National Park for the Goregaon-Mulund Link Road project. The twin three-lane tunnels are designed to directly connect Dadasaheb Phalke Chitranagari in Goregaon East with Amar Nagar in Mulund West, creating an east-west transit route.
The civic administration commissioned the first tunnel boring machine, named Tulsi, on Monday to begin the subterranean excavation. The overall Goregaon-Mulund Link Road project stretches across a total length of 12.2 kilometres and is being executed in four separate phases to provide a direct east-west road link across Mumbai.
The underground tunnel construction constitutes a key component under Phase 3B of the project. To carry out the boring, the civic body is deploying Earth Pressure Balance tunnel boring machine technology. This specific method has been planned in order to minimise the impact on the environment and the biodiversity within Sanjay Gandhi National Park.
The entire tunnel package encompasses a total length of 6.6 kilometres. Alongside the twin 5.3-kilometre tunnels, the package includes the construction of 17 cross passages, 720 metres of twin-box tunnels, and 600 metres of dedicated approach roads situated at both Goregaon and Mulund.
The municipal corporation stated that the project has received the required environmental clearances from the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change for Phases 1 and 2. In addition, the authorities obtained the necessary tree-felling permissions from the Supreme Court.
For resettlement, around 906 project-affected persons are being rehabilitated at Kanjurmarg, where accommodation is being provided across six ground-plus-23-storey buildings.
The completed tunnels will feature several modern safety and operational installations. These systems will include mechanical ventilation, mist-based firefighting networks, CCTV monitoring, SCADA operational controls, LED lighting, and advanced signage.
