Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation (MMRC), which is executing the 32.5-km-long Colaba-Bandra-SEEPZ Metro 3 underground corridor, has been conferred the ‘Tunnelling project of the year’ and ‘Safety initiative of the year’ awards by the Tunnelling Association of India.
Tunnelling Association of India (TAI) is the Indian Chapter of the International Tunnelling and Underground Space Association (ITA) and was established in the year 1991 under the aegis of the Central Board of Irrigation and Power under the government of India.
The awards were presented during the ongoing Tunnelling Asia 2023 International Conference on “Climate Resilience and Sustainability in Tunnelling and Underground Space” being held in Mumbai.
Union minister for housing and urban affairs and petroleum and natural gas Hardeep Singh Puri graced the inaugural session of the conference on November 23, 2023.This is the 9th Edition of the ITA Tunnelling Awards 2023.
“It is an honour to receive an award in the Tunnelling Project of The Year category. The project has been an engineering marvel due to its complexities of being executed in the most difficult topographical, geological, and logistical conditions of Mumbai. There have been several challenges in the project like its passing through congested areas, traffic management, rehabilitation of PAPs, tunnelling close to coastline and even below the water body.
These challenges have been successfully surmounted with help of use of advanced technology and engineering acumen. The supports of Government of Maharashtra and its agencies have facilitated the project to come to the present stage,” said managing director, MMRC Ashwini Bhide.
“Executing this project while ensuring safety and structural integrity of buildings, their occupants, safety of city dwellers and that of the construction workers have been paramount for us right from the very beginning.
250 million manhours with loss time injury frequency rate of 0.34 could be achieved over a period spanning more than 7 years by putting in place detailed procedures and protocols, mandatory safety training of each worker deployed on the project and by elaborate instrumentation and monitoring mechanism. The achieved injury frequency rate is well below the international standard of 0.5 for a mega project.” said MMRC’s director (Projects) Subodh Gupta.
