Less money for big projects, but fat chunk for Coastal Road

With the civic body giving a major thrust on the coastal road, one of its showpiece projects, several initiatives of the corporation have received less allocation in the BMC budget. While a few of them are crawling over clearances, the civic body has earmarked Rs 75 crore for the Deonar waste-to-energy plant. Only Rs 200 crore has been set aside for the ambitious desalination projects worth Rs 3,500 crore.

GMLR faces green hurdle

The Goregaon-Mulund link road is the fourth major link, connecting the eastern suburbs and the western suburbs, being implemented in four phases. It spans 12.2 km, including 4.7-km twin tunnels under the Sanjay Gandhi National Park and a 1.6-km underpass at Goregaon Film City. Officials said the work on the elevated stretch of GMLR can start while the work on the environmental study report continues. For the project, 660 resident families, 51 commercial structures and about 100 deprived families would need to be rehabilitated. For the project affected people, the BMC has proposed the construction of seven 23-storey buildings near the LBS Marg in Kanjurmarg (West) at Rs 100 crore. In 2022-23, it has set aside Rs 1,300 crore for the project, which is estimated to cost over Rs 10,000 crore.

Deonar project provision less than 15% of cost

The BMC has set aside Rs 75 crore for the Deonar waste-to-energy plant for 2022-23. The BMC awarded the Rs 504-crore contract in December 2020. It got the environment clearance from Union green ministry after a year. Now, it has approached Maharashtra Pollution Control Board for its final consent. The plant will generate energy from about 600 tonnes of solid waste a day. The BMC plans to scale it up to 1,800 tonnes a day. Work on the detailed project report and tender documents is underway.

Rs 200 crore for Rs 3,500-crore desalination works

The plan is to build a 200 million litres per day (MLD) desalination plant and upgrade it to 400 MLD in future. The detailed project report is expected to be completed by June 2022. The bids for the plant will be invited by August 2022 through a global tender. The project is estimated to cost Rs 1,600 crore, and maintenance for 20 years will cost another Rs 1,920 crore. But only Rs 200 crore has been proposed in the next financial year.

50% of sewage to be treated to tertiary level

BMC's efforts to develop seven Sewage Treatment Plants (STP) have proved to be dud. Tenders were floated in August 2020 but opened in May 2021, raising the cost to Rs 26,401 crore. But they were scrapped after the bidders quoted high cost. The commissioner assured in the budget speech that all seven STP tenders will be re-invited very shortly for the total capacity of 2,464 MLD (Worli 500, Bandra 360, Dharavi 418, Versova 180, Malad 454, Bhandup 215, Ghatkopar 337). In these STPs, 50 per cent of sewage will be treated at tertiary level and will be used for the non-potable purpose. The BMC has provisioned Rs 1,340 crore for STPs.

Coastal road grabs lion's share

The cost of the Coastal Road project was initially pegged at Rs 12,000 crore, but now it increased to Rs 12,950 crore due to various changes and consultancy charges. The BMC claimed that 50 per cent of the work including the boring of the first tunnel of 2,072 metres from has been completed. It said 90% of the work will be completed in 2022-23. It had allocated Rs 2,000 crore in 2021-22 which was revised to Rs 3,500 crore and an additional Rs 3,200 crore has now been kept aside.

Fund distribution

GMLR - Rs 1,300 crore
Deonar waste-to-energy plant - Rs 75 crore
Desalinaton projects - Rs 200 crore
Sewage treatment plants - Rs 1,340 crore
Coastal road - Rs 3,200 crore