Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) officials earlier this week approved the reconstruction of the 6.5-km twin tunnels of its ambitious Goregaon Mulund Link Road (GMLR) project at an additional cost of Rs 248 crore. These tunnels will pass under the Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) and connect Goregaon in the western suburbs with Vikhroli in the east.
The earlier cost of constructing the twin tunnels was estimated at Rs 6,301 crore, while the revised cost after the increase is Rs 6,548 crore. The tunnels are expected to be completed by mid-2028.
Initially, the twin tunnels were supposed to pass under the tribal settlements of Huble Pada and Nagarmudi Pada located on the periphery of SGNP. The alignment of the tunnels is directly under the farmlands on which the indigenous communities depend for their livelihoods. The tribal community had expressed their concern over this and held several meetings with the civic authorities to reconsider the alignment of the tunnel.
The alignment has been moved 600 meters to the east, and the tunnels will now pass through forests and under hills without affecting farmland.
Officials said that the construction has already started and the tunnel boring work will start next year. “The tunnel boring machine (TBM) is set to arrive from China in the first quarter of 2025. The new alignment goes under Film City and does not affect agricultural land. The new alignment also requires some additional boring work on both sides of a few hundred meters which has increased the cost,” said a senior civic official.
Civic officials have already identified a land parcel within Film City where shaft digging for the TBM is underway. After the TBM arrives, it will be assembled at the site and lowered into the shaft from where the boring work will begin. The civic official said that the boring work of the first tunnel will start from the western suburb and the TBM will be taken out at the eastern end. The boring of the second tunnel will start from the eastern suburbs.
The 12-km-long GMLR will run east from the Western Express Highway (WEH) and extend to Mulund in the eastern suburbs. Currently there is no direct connection between these two parts of the city and the journey time is 75 to 90 minutes during peak hours. After the GMLR is ready, the travel time between these two points will come down to 25 minutes.