BMC to spend Rs 132 crore over 2 years to desilt Mithi River, nullahs across city

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will spend Rs 132.40 crore over two years to clean major nullahs in the city, including Mithi River, to prevent waterlogging during monsoon. The BMC is planning to award the work to seven contractors, who have agreed to take up the work at 13-25 per cent below the project’s estimated cost.

Mumbai has a 263.91-km-long network of major nullahs spread across the island city and the western and eastern suburbs. Before monsoon onset, the BMC plans to remove 2.53 lakh metric tonne silt. While the cleaning of major nullahs will cost Rs 70 crore, desilting of the 21.05-km Mithi River, which starts from Vihar Lake and flows into the Arabian Sea at Mahim Creek, will require Rs 62 crore over two years. The BMC appoints contractors every year to desilt nullahs before monsoon to avoid waterlogging.

These proposals will be tabled in the Standing Committee for final approval and the civic body hopes to start the desilting work by mid-February.

According to the proposal, desilting of Mithi River will be taken up in two parts — Teachers Colony, Kurla to Bandra-Kurla Complex and Powai Filterpada to Teachers Colony. The desilting of other major nullahs is going to take place in Wadala, Worli and Sion in the island city, Bandra, Andheri, Malad and Dahisar in the western suburbs and Kurla, Mankhurd and Mulund in the eastern suburbs.

Covid-19 has delayed the process of appointing contractors for the work, officials said. “This could cause delays but we hope to finish the work before monsoon,” said an official from the Storm Water Drain department.

Earlier this week, the BMC presented the financial budget of Rs 39,308 crore for year 2021-22. Ahead of the BMC polls in early 2022, the Shiv Sena-led civic body has focused on preventive works like waterlogging. Officials are targeting 29 chronic flooding spots ahead of monsoon.