Work on coastal road's underwater tunnels to begin by December-end

In a significant milestone in the Coastal Road project construction the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation BMC will start boring for the underwater tunnel by the end of December The assembling of heavy machinery weighing over 500 tonnes has started Even as BMC has completed land reclamation of 64 hectares there are concerns over permissions for an additional 21 hectares from the Ministry of Environment and Forest for Climate ChangeWork on the tunnel will be heavier than the work done for Metro III owing to a larger diameter of 122 metresThe BMC will be constructing two tunnels of 2 km and three lanes each The BMC claims that the tunnel will be the largest in the country The work is also being monitored by Environment Tourism and Protocol Minister Aaditya Thackeray officials saidThe Coastal Road will start near Princess Street flyover and end at Priyadarshini Park PicSuresh KarkeraThackeray visited the project site last week To cover the distance between Priyadarshini Park and the Princess Street flyover at Marine Drive piling work for the tunnels road is being done tooA senior civic official associated with the project said The machinery is being assembled and launched in various phases Once the launching is complete we will be ready to test it by the end of next month and by midJanuary we aim to start the actual work on the underwater tunnel Including the entry and exit the road will measure 35 km of which 2 km will be the two underground tunnels for north and southbound trafficChief Minister Uddhav Thackerays pet project the road originally required 90 hectares of reclamation but now needs another 21 However civic officials are concerned that the current ties between the Sena in power in the state and the BJP in power at the Centre might delay permissions for the additional reclamationThe BMC will not be conducting new studies on the impact of reclamation on the environment as officials said that there is no change in the alignment While the original plan had invited tremendous criticism from citizens and the Opposition the BMC does not intend to invite suggestions for the additional reclamation of 21 hectaresAlso ReadMumbai schools to stay shut till December 31 due to COVID19 BMCWe need the additional space for the road as there were small changes in the original plan and also for the construction of the sea wall The proposal has been put up before the Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority MCZMA We need these approvals by next year to be on track with the work and our followups for the same are going on a civic official said35kmTotal length of the road from Princess Street flyover to Priyadarshini Park90Original land reclamation requirement in hectares64Land area in hectares reclaimed so farKeep scrolling to read more newsCatch up on all the latest Mumbai news crime news current affairs and a complete guide from food to things to do and events across Mumbai Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates MidDay is now on Telegram Click here to join our channel middayinfomedialtd and stay updated with the latest news