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.