1 month ago
1
Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) Standing Committee has fixed a greenish awesome to the arguable Gargai dam connection successful Palghar territory successful Maharashtra astatine a revised outgo of ₹3,065.68 crore. Earlier, the sheet stalled the task owed to terms escalations and biology concerns.
After the bulk of sheet members voted successful favour of the project, BMC’s Standing Committee approved the outgo escalation of much than ₹2,000 crore, with the existent outgo of the project, including taxes, being ₹5,051 crore. Despite objections from the opposition, Standing Committee president Prabhakar Shinde enactment the question to a dependable vote, wherever the bulk voted successful favour.
Mahayuti corporators reasoned that the task is needed to conscionable Mumbai’s expanding h2o requirements connected a precedence basis. Besides, the task outgo escalations person been reduced from 9% to astir 2% supra the estimate. BJP person Ganesh Kankhar said, “It has been considered lone aft the contractor agreed to enactment astatine the par rates.” Mumbai’s existent request is 4,665 MLD per day, portion proviso is 4,100 MLD.
The Gargai task has been agelong overdue, arsenic it was primitively conceived successful 1994, and was reinitiated by the Mahayuti authorities successful 2019 to physique a probe task to procure 440 cardinal litres per time (MLD) for Mumbai. The projects received objections arsenic it is apt to impact 3.10 lakh trees and villagers.
On March 11, the Committee stalled the task arsenic the outgo roseate to ₹5,396 crore, including taxes, asking the medication to explicate the escalation. The archetypal task outgo was ₹3,006 crore, which has present risen to ₹3,065 crore, excluding taxes. Earlier, aft the tenders were floated successful December 2025, the 2 companies, Soma Enterprises Limited and Hindustan Construction Company, quoted a higher price, with Soma bidding ₹3,276 crore.
The task is sanctioned to physique the 972 metre dam connected the Gargai river, a sub-tributary of the Vaitarna river, to go the eighth reservoir to proviso h2o to Mumbai. Congress radical person Ashraf Azmi asked, “If costs person escalated without immoderate enactment done, past successful the adjacent 2 years, what is the warrant that the terms volition not spell up to ₹7,000 crore?” He besides raised concerns astir the biology interaction of the task and the displacement of villagers.
The Standing Committee volition besides name a peculiar compartment consisting of 10 officers for 1 twelvemonth to look into onshore acquisition.
