National Board of wildlife approves Thane-Borivali twin tunnel project
National Board of wildlife approves Thane-Borivali twin tunnel project ( Representational Image )
The National Board of Wildlife has granted approval to the Thane-Borivali Twin Tunnel project in Mumbai.
The approval marks a significant milestone for the project, which aims to construct two road tunnels of 10.8 km each under the Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP).
The Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) project, costing approximately Rs 11,235 crore, aims to reduce travel time from Thane to Mumbai’s western suburbs from 60 minutes to 15-20 minutes.
For this, the MSRDC will deploy Tunnel Boring Machines (TBMs) – similar to the ones deployed for digging the underground sections of Mumbai Metro projects – to cause minimum disturbances to wildlife in the 87-square km SGNP.
The first inter-district road tunnel project in the state, it will entail acquiring 16.54 hectares of private and 40.46 hectares of SGNP lands and will connect Borivali WEH in Mumbai with the Tikuji-ni-Wadi on the Thane side.
The twin tunnel project will run underneath the SGNP, and special precautions will be taken to minimize disturbances to wildlife and biodiversity in the park.
Happy to inform you that the National Board of Wildlife has granted approval to the Thane Borivali Twin Tunnel. This marks an important milestone in starting work on this watershed project,” MMRDA Commissioner Dr. Sanjay Mukherjee said in a post on X.
The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) has taken over the project from MSRDC.
