Rejuvenation of Dahisar, Walbhat & Poisar rivers! BMC receives bids from four interested companies; details

The rejuvenation of Dahisar, Walbhat, and Poisar rivers got a boost after the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) received bids from four companies interested in executing the projects. Besides the Mithi river, the BMC has planned the rejuvenation and beautification of these three above-mentioned rivers as well as developing them into tourist places, according to an IE report. Officials from Storm Water Drain (SWD) department said once contractors are appointed, the project will take nearly 36 months to complete. An official from the SWD department was quoted in the report saying that three companies have shown interest in Dahisar and Walbhat rivers each, and four firms have expressed interest in executing the Poisar river rejuvenation project. Currently, the process of finalizing contractors is going on, the official said.

Contractors will be finalized after further scrutiny of documents of bidders, and proposals, for approval, will be tabled in the Standing Committee. At present, the process of appointing contractors for the project of river rejuvenation is in the last stage, P Velrasu, Additional Municipal Commissioner (Projects) said. The projects will are estimated to cost around Rs 1,400 crore. The river rejuvenation project includes widening, curbing pollution of river, improving the quality of water, developing sewer network, beautification of river banks, constructing desilting access roads as well as building Sewage Treatment Plants.

Last year, tenders for the rejuvenation were invited. Another BMC official was quoted in the report saying that once the rejuvenation is completed, the companies will also be appointed for maintenance as well as operation for newly developed tourist places on these river banks. To quicken the widening work of rivers, earlier, BMC had demolished several slums that had come up along the river banks.

In the month of November, last year, the BMC cleared four proposals related to the Mithi river’s rejuvenation. The work involves laying of sewer lines along the river, managing river flow by deepening, widening, building of reinforced cement concrete protection wall as well as service road. The rejuvenation project will cost BMC Rs 569.52 crore, the report added.