Tunnel Rd DPR cuts project timeline to 24 months

TUNNELING for Bengaluru's proposed Tunnel Road project, initially estimated to take 33 months, has now been slashed to 24 months in the final Detailed Project Report (DPR).

- INDRA S @Bengaluru

While experts call the projection unrealistic, officials from Bengaluru Smart Infrastructure Limited (B-SMILE) say the reduced timeline is possible due to the deployment of eight high-speed Tunnel Boring Machines (TBMs), as opposed to the earlier plan to use six medium-to-average-speed TBMs.

The draft DPR had pegged the total project completion time at 61 months, of which 33 months were dedicated to tunneling. The final DPR, however, brings down the overall project duration to 50 months, with just 24 months assigned for boring through 16.7 km.