JKIL – MEPL’s TBM Records 2nd Breakthrough for Mumbai’s Mithi Rejuvenation Project

J Kumar Infraprojects – Michigan Engineers JV’s tunnel boring machine S80B on Wednesday recorded its second breakthrough at Mumbai’s Kurla West neighborhood for 6.40 km Mithi River Quality Improvement Project’s Package IV.

This 6633.84m long project by Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) between Dharavi – Safed Pul Nullah aims to improve and rejuvenate 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 first launched in October 2022 from Dharavi WWTF and arrived at Kurla Garden in June 2023 after traveling 1840 meters for Phase 1 of the project.

For its second drive which ended this Wednesday, the machine was relaunched from Kurla Garden in July 2023 and traveled 1740 meters to arrive at SCLR Shaft located near Kanakia Zillion (view on Google Maps).

This 3.14m diameter Terratec TBM is the smallest diameter earth pressure balance (EPB) machine to be deployed in India. The tunnel it built has an internal finished diameter of 2.60 meters.

Prior to this assignment, the TBM 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 four 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 re-commissioned in March for its third tunneling assignment, Phase 3, from SCLR Shaft to Safed Pul – covering a distance of 2487 meters. The final tunneling drive (Phase 4) will see the machine arriving at Bapat Nalla Shaft covering a distance of another 567 meters.

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– TMRG