JKIL – MEPL’s TBM Records Breakthrough for Mumbai Sewage Project

Mumbai last month saw India’s largest tunnel boring recording a breakthrough, and this past week it was the smallest EPB machine’s turn!

J Kumar Infraprojects – Michigan Engineers’ tunnel boring machine S80B last week recorded a breakthrough at Mumbai’s Kurla Garden for 6.40 km Mithi River Quality Improvement Project’s Package IV.

This project by Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) between Bapat Nullah – Safed Pul Nullah aims to improve the water quality of Mithi River by diverting waste water to Dharavi’s wastewater treatment facility (WWTF).

J Kumar – Michigan JV’s Terratec machine was launched in October 2022 from Dharavi WWTF and arrived at Kurla Garden after traveling 1840 meters for Phase 1 of the project. The tunnel it built has an internal diameter of 2.60 meters.

This 3.14m diameter Terratec TBM is the smallest diameter earth pressure balance (EPB) machine to be deployed in India. Prior to this assignment, it was deployed by Michigan Engineers under SV Road for Mumbai Sewer Disposal Project (MSDP) Stage-II Priority Works project.

J Kumar Infraprojects – Michigan Engineers JV was awarded a LoA for this project’s Package 4 worth Rs. 455.34 crore in August 2021.

The basic objective of the project is to provide a healthier and improved environment for Mumbaikars by improving the quality and reliability of wastewater collection, treatment and disposal, whilst minimizing the impact of wastewater on the environment.  

Tunneling work will be completed in three phases to divert an estimated 168 million litres of contaminated water per day, which otherwise would have gone straight into Mithi River, from Bapat Nullah and Safed Pul Nullah to the sewage treatment plant in Dharavi

With this breakthrough squared away, the machine will now be deployed for its next tunneling assignment, Phase 2, from Kurla Garden to Kanakia Zillion on Santacruz-Chembur Link Road (SCLR) for a distance of 1730m.

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– TMRG