Mumbai: Chief Minister Eknath Shinde visited the Mumbai Coastal Road on Tuesday to address the issue of leakages in the tunnel. On Sunday, water was observed seeping through the walls and ceiling, particularly at the southbound tunnel's end of Coastal Road, where significant leaks were noted. By Monday, Project Head and Additional Municipal Commissioner Dr. Amit Saini, along with a team of experts from L&T, inspected the site. Repair work was conducted overnight to address the visible leakages.
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Regarding the proposed solution, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde stated, "Polymer grouting would be applied to all 25 joints of the Mumbai Coastal Road tunnel. Although only a few joints were faulty, the solution will be implemented for all joints of the tunnel's functional arm." The Chief Minister assured that traffic movement has not been affected by the leakages.
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"The leakage is confined to only a few joints of the tunnel, but the resulting moss has spread. All joints will be inspected, and a foolproof, permanent solution will be devised in consultation with additional experts to prevent this issue in the future," said CM Shinde.
Since Sunday morning, water has been seen dripping from the tunnel roofs, with several dark areas on the walls where paint has chipped off due to humidity. Drip lines extended from these dark patches to the floor, and the edges of the holes were visibly damp. Water had pooled on the coastal road near the Marine Drive end of the tunnel, approximately 100 meters from its exit.
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The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is still searching for a solution to the tidal water entering the Coastal Road's pedestrian underpass at Haji Ali. Meanwhile, officials stated that the cracks on the road near the tunnels appear normal due to the cement shrinking and will be addressed accordingly. This issue gained attention after photos of the Haji Ali underpass and the cracks went viral on social media.
A civic official from the Coastal Road department informed FPJ, "During high tide, seawater infiltrates the underpass, requiring it to be closed. The underpass level cannot be raised because it must align with the Haji Ali pathway. However, measures such as constructing a hump at the entrance of the pedestrian underpass, installing a stormwater drain, and setting up a pumping system will mitigate the issue to some extent during the monsoon season. This work is currently in progress."
Zoru Bathena, a Social Activist said, "They are spending crores on every project in the city, yet the Corporation's focus is on appearances rather than on effective, quality work. The tunnel they have planned is so poorly designed that only one lane is usable at the ends, creating a bottleneck that negates the advantage of taking a fast route and results in more traffic. Spending $1.5 billion USD on a single road and still ending up with such inefficiencies is a blatant misuse of public funds. This is nothing short of a disgraceful squandering of our money. It is a recurring embarrassment and an insult to the citizens."
