BMC to shell out Rs 1,300 crore for sewage treatment plants

Two sewage treatment plants will come up at the Dahisar river. File pic

After spending crores of rupees on constructing retaining walls and laying approach roads to the Dahisar and Oshiwara rivers, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) now plans to spend another Rs 1,300 crore to set up sewage treatment plants under the river rejuvenation project. A proposal regarding the same will be tabled in the standing committee meeting on Wednesday.

"There are several works under the project, like construction of retaining walls, sewage lines, approach roads to rivers, storm water drainage adjacent to roads, interceptors to stop sewage from flowing into rivers and sewage treatment plants. The water will be released into the rivers after treatment. We have completed 90 per cent work of the retaining walls and widening of river and 70 per cent work of approach roads to Dahisar river. Now work on the sewage treatment plants will start," said a BMC official.

A number of nullahs have outlets into the Oshiwara river. File pic

The BMC floated a tender in April 2020 for construction of the plants, but they had to extend the deadline for submissions 13 times due to the pandemic. Finally, the corporation received responses from three contractors in February this year and the estimated cost of the project increased 150 per cent from what it was in 2018.

The Dahisar river is 13 km long, out of which 4.7 km is outside SGNP and falls under the BMC's jurisdiction. There will be two sewage treatment plants of capacity 1.5 MLD and 5 MLD at Dahisar. The administration has proposed to give the contract to SK-SP associates at a cost of Rs 376 crore, and construction is expected to complete within two years.

The Oshiwara river is 7.3 km long and many nullahs like the Santosh Nagar, Ridhi-Siddhi, Royal Palm, Nandadip, NESCO, Majas, Fairdeal, Indian Oil, Dnyaneshwar and BEST have outlets into the river. Oshiwara will have five sewage treatment plants with a combined capacity of 20.5 MLD. The administration has proposed to give the contract to M/S Shapurji Palanji and Konark at a total cost of '928 crore. Construction of the plants is expected to be complete within the next three years. The cost includes maintenance of the plants for 15 years.

13km
Total length of the Dahisar river