Navi Mumbai: Patel Engineering Limited (NSE: PATELENG | BSE: 531120), a leading infrastructure and construction services company in India today successfully achieved the Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) breakthrough at the CIDCO Treated Water Tunnel (TWT) Project – Package II, formally concluding a record-setting tunnelling drive that has established a new national benchmark in mechanised underground construction.
The breakthrough marks the culmination of the tunnelling phase in which Patel Engineering recorded 812.466 metres of excavation in a single month in January 2026, the highest-ever monthly TBM progress achieved in India. The tunnelling drive was completed over four months ahead of schedule and recorded over 1 million safe man-hours with zero safety incidents — underscoring the project’s strong execution discipline and safety commitment. The TBM cutterhead emerged at the designated exit point at Sai Village, Panvel, in the presence of project leads and project controllers from Patel Engineering and officials from the City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO).
The tunnelling was executed using a 3.2-metre diameter TBM, “Tiboti Khandya”—manufactured by Terratec and named after the Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher. The mechanised approach enabled high-precision excavation with enhanced safety and minimal surface disruption, making it particularly suited to critical urban water infrastructure projects.
The CIDCO Treated Water Tunnel Project is a key component of CIDCO’s long-term water security strategy and involves the design and construction of a 6.27 km long treated water tunnel and allied works connecting Sai Village to Vindhane Village in Raigad district. Once operational, the project will significantly strengthen bulk treated water conveyance to meet Navi Mumbai’s growing residential, commercial, and industrial demand.
Kavita Shirvaikar, Managing Director, Patel Engineering Limited, said: “Today’s TBM breakthrough marks the successful closure of an exceptionally demanding tunnelling drive and validates the record productivity achieved by our teams earlier this year. Delivering this milestone required sustained precision, disciplined execution, and seamless coordination across engineering, operations, and safety functions. It reflects our ability to convert performance benchmarks into tangible on-ground outcomes.”
A senior official from CIDCO said: “The successful completion of the tunnelling drive and the TBM breakthrough is a critical milestone for the Treated Water Tunnel project. Such achievements strengthen CIDCO’s efforts to build robust and future-ready water infrastructure that can support Navi Mumbai’s long-term growth while maintaining reliability and operational efficiency.”
With the tunnelling phase now complete, construction activities will progress to the next stages of project execution in line with CIDCO’s infrastructure development roadmap. The milestone further reinforces Patel Engineering’s leadership in mechanised tunnelling and its track record of delivering complex underground infrastructure projects across varied geological conditions.
