In a significant milestone for Navi Mumbai's infrastructure, the City and Industrial Development Corporation (Cidco) achieved its first-ever tunnel breakthrough on Monday. This marks a historic moment in the agency's history across all its projects.
A Historic Milestone for Urban Infrastructure
The breakthrough occurred at Shaft-4 in Wahal village, part of Package-1 of the Augmentation of Hetawane Water Supply Scheme. The project, executed by Afcons Infrastructure, involves constructing an extensive network to bring additional water from the Hetawane Dam near Pen to the rapidly expanding city of Navi Mumbai.
Vijay Singhal, Vice Chairman and Managing Director of Cidco, highlighted the dual achievements for the region. "A few days ago, we created history with the first flight taking off from the greenfield Navi Mumbai International Airport. Today, we created another historic moment with this first water tunnel breakthrough for our water supply mechanism," he stated.
Project Details and Enhanced Capacity
The ambitious scheme is designed to address the critical water needs of Navi Mumbai's growing population. The completed tunnel network will substantially increase Cidco's water supply capacity.
The capacity will rise from the existing 150 million litres per day (MLD) to 270 MLD, a vital upgrade for the city's future. The entire tunnelling project is slated for completion by 2029.
Package-1, where the breakthrough was made, includes an 8.7 km treated water tunnel. Of this, a remarkable 5.52 km of tunnelling work has already been finished. The full project scope is even more extensive, involving the construction of a 13.25 km raw water tunnel and a 15.4 km treated water tunnel.
Commitment to Speed and Safety
Singhal commended Afcons for its performance, noting the work was completed ahead of schedule. "I must appreciate Afcons for its speed, quality of work, and for completing the tunnel breakthrough ahead of schedule," he said. He also urged all other contractors involved in Cidco projects to avoid seeking extensions and aim for timely or early completion to meet the overall 2029 timeline.
Krishnamurthy Subramanian, Executive Chairman of Afcons, who was present at the site, addressed the challenges overcome. "Despite geological and logistical challenges, we set national tunnelling records by adopting innovative practices," he explained. Subramanian committed to completing the project six months ahead of schedule while maintaining the highest safety and quality standards.
Afcons has already demonstrated exceptional speed, setting a new national tunnelling record by achieving 777 metres of tunnelling in a single month using the 3.2 metre-diameter Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) named 'Flamingo'. This surpassed its own previous record of 714 metres set in May of this year.
The timely execution of the Hetawane Water Supply Scheme is crucial. As Singhal emphasized, its completion will directly benefit Navi Mumbai's increasing population, mitigating water supply hardships and supporting the city's continued development.
