Mumbai: The BMC standing committee on Wednesday referred back the proposal for awarding the contract for construction of the Gargai dam at a cost of Rs 3,276 crore, citing the escalation in estimates from the initial Rs 3,006 crore. Members of the standing committee belonging to the ruling party demanded that the contract be awarded at par. Members also sought a presentation and more clarity on how the project is being executed. While Shiv Sena (UBT) members opposed the project and cited the ecological impact, Congress members led by Ashraf Azmi supported the project and sought details about the project.“What is the basis and reasons for going beyond the estimates prepared by the BMC itself. On one hand the contractor is giving a discount of Rs 57 crore, on the other the BMC is giving them an incentive of Rs 60 crore. Our primary duty is to ensure there is no unnecessary expenditure by the BMC. Therefore, we have referred back the proposal and expect the administration to come back with explanations to the questions raised,” said standing committee chairperson Prabhakar Shinde.BJP corporator Tejinder Singh Tiwana sought for a review of the technical and financial aspects of the tender and also demanded that the contract be awarded at par, while NCP corporator Sayeeda Khan demanded that the administration make a detailed presentation to all the members and said that the administration should explain how many people are project affected and how they are compensating and rehabilitating them. “We need to know the opinion of the people affected by the project. The administration should arrange a site visit,” Khan said. The administration had sought the approval of BMC standing committee for awarding the contract at a cost of Rs 3,276 crore, which is about 9% above the BMC estimates of Rs 3,006 crore. According to civic officials, Soma Enterprises, which had submitted a bid of Rs 3,334 crore for the project, provided a discount of about Rs 57 crore after negotiations with BMC. The firm had cited various reasons including the need to move tunnel boring machines across two rivers that are Gargai and Vaitarna, besides logistic issues for transport of cement and fly ash because of the ‘ghat’ region for increased cost. According to civic officials, a 69 metre tall dam near Ogada village in Wada Taluka along with a 1.6 km long water conveyance tunnel with a 2.2 metre diameter tunnel, will be constructed, which will be linked to the existing Modak Sagar reservoir. The tunnel will be built below the hillock between Gargai and Vaitarna rivers. Once commissioned, Gargai will add 440 million litres per day (MLD) to Mumbai’s water supply.
