Finally, BMC Gets Bidders For Mithi River Desilting; Full-fledged Work To Begin On April 4
· Free Press Journal
Mumbai: After multiple extensions and with less time to hand, the BMC has finally received bids for the desilting of the Mithi River, the most crucial stormwater drain (SWD) in Mumbai. The project cost is Rs 29.5 crore, almost 40% less than last year, and 1.65 lakh metric tonnes of silt is to be removed. Considering the urgency, packet C will be opened on Friday and by the weekend, the contractor will start mobilising machinery. “By April 4, full-fledged desilting will begin across Mumbai, including minor and major nullas and the Mithi River, additional municipal commissioner Abhijit Bangar said, addressing the civic standing committee on Wednesday.
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Bangar said that the Mithi river desilting is carried out in three packages, and for every package, two bids have been received, for which scrutiny is in process. While for other major and minor nullas across Mumbai, work has begun in four civic zones out of seven. While for four civic wards (M-West, K-West, H-West and S), the tendering is in the last stage and administration will ensure the work starts by March 27.
The commencement of the desilting work has been delayed this year after the two contractors were blacklisted last monsoon, resulting in retendering to appoint new contractors. While for the Mithi river, in the backdrop of the enquiry by the Mumbai police’s Economic Offences Wing against the contractor and civic staff in the desilting scam, the BMC had a tough time attracting bidders to work for Mithi.
Last year, the desilting of the Mithi river was not completed beyond 70%, resulting in waterlogging at several locations. The desilting of the Mithi, is most critical to prevent major flooding during heavy rainfall in Mumbai.
The BMC plans to complete 80% of the SWD desilting pre-monsoon, 10% during the monsoon and 10% post-monsoon.
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Enhanced monitoring and transparency with AI
The civic administration informed via a presentation to the standing committee that, similar to last year, this year too a live SWD dashboard will be available for citizens to track desilting progress. To enhance monitoring and transparency, the use of an artificial intelligence (AI) platform will prove critical as it will analyse the authenticity of the site photos and videos uploaded by the contractors.
“The AI model is better trained this year. The efficacy last year was 60-70%, which this year is expected to be 80-90%. There will be no human entries in the quantity of silt dumping, and monitoring and transparency will be stricter. The silt dumping yard will also be geo-fenced, and there will be automatic number plate detection. Last year, because of the AI, the administration imposed a penalty of Rs 12 to 15 crores on the contractors who weren’t transparent in their job,” the administration said.
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