Poisar river rejuvenation may finally take off

The Poisar river near Mindspace at Malad. File pic/Satej Shinde

After years of discussion, the Poisar river, one of the most polluted water bodies in the city, may finally get a fresh lease of life. On Wednesday, the BMC's standing committee will consider a proposal on the rejuvenation of the river. The project is expected to complete in four years and will cost Rs 1,482 crore, which has nearly doubled in less than two years.

The begins in the Sanjay Gandhi National Park and empties into the Malad Creek. The length of the river is 11.15 km. The width is around 10 metres at the beginning and 45 metres at the creek. There are many drains - Kamla Nehru nullah, Joglekar nullah, PMGP nullah, Samta Nagar nullah, Gautam Nagar nullah - that join the river. Even the discharge from many stormwater drains, sewer lines and buffalo stables gets added to the water. As per the BMC's proposal, the consultant hired for the rejuvenation project has suggested the construction of sewer lines of 8.6 km, stormwater drains of 9.2 km, service roads running up to 3.1 km, interceptors to block trash at 13 points and wastewater treatment plants at 10 locations.

In April 2020, tenders had been invited for the project, which was estimated to cost R752 crore at the time. But the deadline of the pre-bidding meeting was postponed 13 times due to COVID. The process was completed in February 2021 and the cost was updated to Rs 1,482 crores including charges and taxes.

As per tender conditions, the contractor has to maintain the sewage treatment plants for 15 years.

Earlier, the BMC planned to spend R1,300 crore in September 2021 to set up sewage treatment plants as part of its project to rejuvenate the Dahisar and Oshiwara rivers. It had floated a tender in April 2020 for the construction of the plants, but had to extend the deadline 13 times due to the pandemic. It received responses from three contractors in February last year.

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No. of years it will take for the project to be completed