Mumbai, Jan 10 (IANS): In a significant achievement, the BMC on Monday completed the excavation work on the first of the twin-tunnels from Priyadarshini Park to Girgaum Chowpatty - exactly a year after work was started on January 11, 2021 - for the upcoming prestigious Mumbai Coastal Road project, officials said here.

Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray witnessed the tunnel breakthrough online, while Tourism Minister Aditya Thackeray, Mumbai Mayor Kishori Pednekar, Municipal Commissioner I. S. Chahal and other top officials were present, as the important phase in the upcoming project was unveiled.

The excavation was carried out with the help of the country's largest tunnel boring machine (TBM) Mavala, which weighs around 2,800-tonnes, deployed specially for digging for the 2.07 kms long twin-tunnel project on the 10.58 kms Mumbai Coastal Road from Marine Lines to Worli.

The tunnels run under the Malabar Hill and Arabian Sea near the coast in south Mumbai, and the entire 8-lane, toll-free, project, estimated to cost a little over Rs. 1,2700-crore, is expected to be completed in another two years or so.

"I am very proud that my team is working hard to fulfil this long-cherished dream of Mumbaikars. This is a very challenging task connecting the two ends under the sea. We will ensure the project is completed on schedule," said CM Thackeray on the occasion.

Aditya Thackeray said that the work on the second tunnel will be started from April 2022 and the entire mega-project is slated for completion by December 2023.

"The Mumbai Coastal Road project is making great strides, and we are committed to completing it by December 2023 and proudly opening it in the service of Mumbaikars," he said.

Once operational for traffic, the Mumbai Coastal Road - a dream project of CM Thackeray - will connect to the southern end of the Bandra Worli Sea Link, and then onto the Bandra-Versova Sea Link.