Mumbai proposes Rs 2241 crore water tunnel from Manori to Kandivli
Mumbai's civic body has proposed to award a ₹2,241.3 crore contract to Afcons Infrastructure Ltd for the design and construction of a 7.2km underground tunnel connecting the city's first seawater desalination plant at Manori to the water distribution network in Charkop and Mahavir Nagar in Kandivli. The civic standing committee is set to consider the proposal, with construction targeted to begin next month to help bridge Mumbai's daily water deficit.
The project, which is expected to be completed within 45 months, will create a vital route for bringing treated desalinated water into Mumbai's existing supply system. The tunnel accounts for more than half of the total ₹4,077-crore cost of the desalination project.
The proposed underground tunnel will stretch 4.6km from Manori to MNP Udyan at Charkop, and run another 2.6km to Mahavir Nagar. Engineers plan to excavate the tunnel at a depth of 104 to 128 metres below the ground. Two tunnel boring machines will work simultaneously from the Manori and Mahavir Nagar ends to complete the excavation.
The project includes three deep shafts at Manori, Charkop, and Mahavir Nagar, as well as a pumping station at Manori designed for an ultimate capacity of 400 million litres per day. It also features transmission mains, product water tanks, valve chambers, and SCADA integration for monitoring and controlling processes.
According to civic officials, the new tunnel will enable nearly 190 million litres of water per day, which is currently supplied from Bhandup, to be diverted to other parts of Mumbai. Since the local area around Manori requires only a small quantity of water, the majority of the desalinated water will be transported to the western suburbs through the existing network.
Currently, Mumbai requires approximately 4,600 million litres of water every day but only receives about 4,100 million litres. The desalination project aims to bridge this 500-million-litre gap and reduce the city's reliance on rainfall-fed lakes, which are increasingly vulnerable to erratic monsoons and climate change.
Ahead of starting construction, the civic body has issued a public notice inviting objections from citizens and property owners whose land falls along the proposed tunnel alignment.
