BMC floats fresh tender for Goregaon-Mulund Link tunnels

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has floated fresh tenders for building two underground tunnels for its Goregaon-Mulund Link Road (GMLR) project, three weeks after it scrapped the previous tenders. The GMLR project will create an east-west corridor connecting Mulund in the eastern suburbs with Goregaon in the western suburbs. Currently, there is no direct road connectivity between these areas, and travellers have to take a detour from either Ghodbunder Road in Thane or from Powai. Both these roads are clogged with traffic during peak hours. To ease traffic movement through the GMLR, BMC will create a twin tunnel and one box tunnel that will run beneath the Sanjay Gandhi National Park and Film City. As per the project plan, each twin tunnel will be 4.7 km long, while the box tunnel will be 1.6 km long. The BMC had floated two separate tenders for creating the tunnels back in 2020. However, these tenders were scrapped in September 2022. P Velrasu, additional municipal commissioner (projects), BMC, said the civic body has floated fresh tenders, clubbing the construction works of the box and twin tunnels into one tender. The cost of the latest tender for building the tunnels is estimated to be Rs 63.22 billion, which is 35% higher than the previous tender. The BMC intends to start work on the twin tunnels by March next year. See also: Dahisar to Mira-Bhayander elevated road to be completed in 42 monthsFunds are raised by NHAI InvIT through subsequent issuance