In a significant development, Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation (MMRC) on Monday said nearly 70 per cent of the tunnelling work for the third corridor from Colaba to Seepz has been completed.

In all, 23 breakthroughs, totalling 38.25 km out of the 55 km, has been completed in 24 months, despite innumerable challenges faced during construction, MMRC said in a statement.

"MMRC has achieved 70 per cent of tunnelling required for Colaba-Bandra-SEEPZ metro-3 corridor," its managing director Ashwini Bhide said.

The Colaba-Bandra-SEEPZ corridor is the first and the only fully underground corridor.

"With this achievement, we are one step closer to finishing this prestigious project. There were a few unforeseen challenges which were resolved swiftly," she added.

MMRC Director (Projects) SK Gupta said that out of the overall tunnelling across the metro line-3, significant progress has been achieved in package 7, between Marol Naka and Aarey, and is expected to complete by December 12.

"Tunnelling in other packages is also progressing at a fast pace. Overall, we have used 27,030 segment rings to complete the 38.25 km of tunnelling. We have achieved 23 breakthroughs till now and nine more will be achieved in the next 12 months," he added.

This metro line is expected to carry 17 lakh passengers by reducing 6.5 lakh vehicle trips per day and thereby will reduce 2.61 lakh MT pollutant gases every year.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)