Afcons Infrastructure Ltd has achieved a significant construction milestone in the City and Industrial Development Corporation’s (CIDCO) Hetawane Water Supply Scheme, with the company announcing the first-ever tunnel breakthrough in CIDCO’s history, according to a regulatory disclosure filed on December 29.
The breakthrough was achieved at Shaft-4 in Wahal village under Water Tunnel Package-1, which is being executed by Afcons. The package involves the construction of an 8.7-kilometre treated water tunnel, of which 5.52 kilometres of tunnelling has already been completed. The milestone marks a key step in CIDCO’s ambitious water infrastructure augmentation project aimed at meeting Navi Mumbai’s rising water demand .
Following the achievement, Afcons has offered to complete the project six months ahead of the original schedule, despite geological and logistical challenges encountered during execution. CIDCO Vice Chairman and Managing Director Vijay Singhal publicly acknowledged the progress and urged other contractors involved in CIDCO projects to emulate Afcons by completing works on or ahead of schedule .
The broader Hetawane Water Supply Scheme includes the construction of a 13.25-kilometre raw water tunnel and a 15.4-kilometre treated water tunnel. Once completed, the project is expected to increase CIDCO’s water supply capacity from 120 million litres per day (MLD) to 270 MLD, significantly enhancing water availability for Navi Mumbai’s rapidly developing regions .
Afcons also highlighted that it has set a new national tunnelling record during the project by achieving 777 metres of tunnelling in a single month using a 3.2-metre-diameter tunnel boring machine, surpassing its own earlier record of 714 metres achieved earlier in the year .
Afcons Infrastructure is the flagship engineering and construction company of the Shapoorji Pallonji Group, with over six decades of experience in executing complex EPC projects in India and overseas.
