Afcons makes breakthrough in Navi Mumbai water tunnel project, advances completion date

Afcons Infrastructure Ltd on Monday, December 29, said it has achieved the first tunnel breakthrough in the City and Industrial Development Corporation’s (CIDCO) Hetawane Water Supply Scheme in Wahal village in Navi Mumbai, as per an exchange filing.

Further, the company has said it will complete the project six months ahead of schedule. The project is expected to ease Navi Mumbai's water woes.

The breakthrough occurred in water tunnel package-1 of the project. This involves the construction of an

8.7 km treated water tunnel, of which 5.52 km of tunnelling work has been completed so far. Afcons said this was the first tunnel breakthrough across CIDCO projects.

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Krishnamurthy Subramanian, Executive Chairman of Afcons, said, "I congratulate the project team, CIDCO and all those involved for achieving this milestone. Despite geological and logistical challenges, we have set national tunnelling records by adopting innovative practices. We will complete this project six months ahead of schedule while maintaining the highest safety and quality standards."

The Hetawane Water Supply Scheme includes the construction of a 13.25-km raw water tunnel and a 15.4-km treated water tunnel. CIDCO has said the project is intended to augment water supply to Navi Mumbai’s developing areas and increase supply capacity from 120 million litres per day (MLD) to 270 MLD.

Vijay Singhal, Vice Chairman & Managing Director of CIDCO, said, "A few days ago, we created history with the first flight taking off from Navi Mumbai International Airport. Today, we have created another historic moment with this first water tunnel breakthrough. It is the first tunnel breakthrough in CIDCO’s history and in this project as well.”