BMC to shell out Rs 18.5 crore to clean nullahs along Mumbai's highways

Cost increases after civic body takes on job of cleaning of drains adjacent to both eastern and western highways

The cost of nullah cleaning increased by Rs 20 crore as the BMC has taken over both highways. The corporation is in the process of floating tenders to clean nullahs and drains in the city including both highways. The estimated cost to clean the Western Express highway drains is more than Rs 14 crore and for the Eastern Express highway, it is Rs 4.5 crore. The Stormwater Department of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has started floating tenders to clean nullahs with around 10 per cent more quantity of silt this year. The BMC will remove 11 lakh tonnes of silt from the nullahs across the city.
The estimated cost is up to Rs 285 crore, including the cost of cleaning gutters on both sides of highways.

“Earlier, the jurisdiction of highways was not with the BMC but as they are now officially handed over to the BMC, we have floated tenders to clean the side gutters, box drains, pipe drains, etc,” said an official from the BMC. In eastern suburbs, the arterial road comes under five wards and two separate tenders have been floated. The estimated cost of cleaning highway drains in M and L wards is R1.19 crore and that of cleaning the drains in N, S and T wards is Rs 3.35 crore. The tenders for western suburbs are yet to be floated. 

However, the estimated cost of cleaning highway drains is more than R14 crore for six wards.  The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) handed over the control of two major arterial roads, Western Express Highway (WEH) and Eastern Express Highway (EEH), to the BMC. The handover took place after BMC commissioner, Iqbal Singh Chahal, urged the Bombay High Court (HC) to make BMC the sole planning authority for all the roads in the city for maintenance and to keep them pothole-free.

There are 309 major drains and four rivers with an approximate length of 290 km. The city has 508 small nullahs that are 605 km long. There are also 475 km of 100-year-old underground stormwater arch drains in the city's southern parts. Apart from nullahs and rivers, there are around 2,004 km of roadside gutters. The estimated cost for cleaning drains in eastern suburbs is Rs 80 crore and for drains in the western suburbs Rs 145 crore.

Rs 285cr
Total estimated cleaning cost

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