The construction of the ambitious Metro-3 project is picking up pace as the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Limited (MMRCL) has finished 76 per cent of the tunnelling for the Colaba-Bandra-SEEPZ route. According to the proposed plan, the Colaba-Bandra-SEEPZ route will be a 55-km long fully underground metro tunnel.

Currently, 17 Tunnel Boring Machines (TBMs) are conducting the tunnelling work and MMRCL intends to complete the tunnelling by December 2020.

Along with the tunnelling work, other aspects of the project are also being developed quickly. MMRCL has started the construction of Metro stations on the route. Out of the 26 proposed stations, MMRCL has finished installation of slabs at six stations. The stations are Cuffe Parade, Vidhan Bhavan, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, Marol Naka, MIDC.

Meanwhile, the metro corporation has also finished the tunnelling of 13 stations out of the proposed 26 stations. It is expected that the tunnelling work for the remaining 13 stations will be finished in the coming 3-4 months.

The Metro-3 project aims at connecting the city with six commercial areas, five suburban railway stations, the domestic and international airport. More importantly, the project will look to offer transportation at areas where railway trains cannot offer services.

The 17 TBMs that have been deployed have attained 25 breakthroughs out of the total 32 breakthroughs. Only seven more breakthroughs are remaining for the tunnelling work to conclude. MMRCL plans to float tenders for the management and upkeeping of the Metro-3 project. It is expected that the rail tracks for Metro-3 will be installed this year. Alongside, once the design work of various systems is completed, the deputy contractors for the project will be appointed by MMRCL.

In the meantime, a new report has shed light on the Financial Internal Rate of Return (FIRR) of Mumbai’s metro projects, revealing that only two metro projects currently have a positive FIRR of 10%. FIRR is a metric used to measure the returns an investor would get on his/her investments.