Mumbai: The tunnelling work below the Mithi river in Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) for the ongoing underground Metro 3 corridor (Colaba--Bandra--SEEPZ) will continue during monsoon, authorities said. This river-turned-nullah has witnessed encroachments, which is one of the major factors that causes heavy waterlogging in the low-lying areas surrounding it.
However, Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Limited(MMRCL), which has undertaken the tunnelling work, has guaranteed that the tunnel boring machines (TBMs) are earth pressure balanced due to which the progress of tunnelling will be unaffected in the rains.
SK Gupta, Director (projects) of MMRCL said, they have undertaken monsoon preventive measures. "One of the major challenges would be to carry out tunnelling in grade 4 and grade 5 (broken rock geology with a water body above). The TBM machines being used here are capable of dealing with such situations. Moreover, to overcome monsoon challenges in the station area, we have installed de-watering pumps to flush out inundated water," said Gupta.
Currently, MMRCL is constructing three tunnels at BKC station under the Mithi River. Two tunnels are made using TBMs and the third shorter length tunnel, using NATM technology.
The 33.5 kilometres Metro 3 corridor is expected to ease travelling woes for Mumbaikars by connecting the island city to the western suburbs. MMRCL recently disclosed that the project's 23.69km of the 52km tunnelling work has been completed till March.
