Mumbai civic body to refloat tender for Manori desalination plant

The Bhatsa dam near Shahapur in Thane district. The city receives 3,850 MLD daily from seven lakes. File pic

Seven months after initiating the bidding process to select a contractor for the ambitious desalination project at Manori, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will refloat the tender as bidders haven't fulfilled the technical criteria. The civic body grapples with a shortage of water every year due to increased demand. The delay in the process will hit the water supply for another year.

Currently, the city receives 3,850 million litres per day (MLD) water from seven lakes daily. To match the demand-supply ratio, the desalination project at Manori can add 200 MLD of water to the current daily supply after four years, which may help to some extent. The project's 200-MLD capacity can be later doubled. But the project is still in limbo as the civic body is now going to refloat the tender after the consultant of the project raised queries on technicalities in the bidders' documents.

The civic body issued a tender notice on December 4, 2023, to set up a plant which can turn saline water potable and extended it almost six times till June 2024. "This is an international-level tender. Sometimes the delay occurs due to technicalities," said a civic official. The BMC received two respondents to the tenders which opened on July 10.

Sachin Sawant, Congress spokesperson, alleged that there was cartelisation to show more than one bid had been received. However, it is believed the consultant on this project had refused to sign off on this submission and is being pressured to qualify both bids. The tender conditions were set as such that the contract could be given to a favourite bidder even though there are several global companies which are either equally or more qualified. He demanded an explanation from the BMC and that the entire tender process be cancelled if the allegations were true.

"There is some technical paperwork required. But the project consultant wasn't satisfied with the documents provided by the bidders so we need to cancel the tender process. We will have to retender the process and the decision on the same will be taken within two days," said a senior official from the BMC's water project department.

The story so far

The BMC in February 2021 appointed an Israeli company to prepare a detailed proposal for the Manori project. In January 2022, the corporation engaged SMEC India to evaluate the study and designs prepared by the Israeli firm. The civic body issued a tender notice on December 4, 2023, to set up a plant which can turn saline water potable. The BMC extended it at least six times and now the final deadline was June 27, 2024. The project will take at least four years to be completed. The estimated cost of the project is R3,520 crore. Apart from construction, heavy expenses are likely to be incurred for electricity, maintenance and asset replacement. It is estimated that over 20 years, the project will cost Rs 8,500 crore.

Dec 4
Day in 2023 when BMC issued tender notice