The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has canceled the tender process for the pending desalination project, which aims to increase the city's water supply by 200 million liters per day (MLD).
The project failed to attract any bidders despite the bid deadline being extended several times from December 2023. As a result, the administrative authorities will now conduct an inquiry to reveal the reasons for the lack of interest in the project.
The deadline for the most recent bid extension expired on August 29. "Despite extending the deadline several times, we have either received no bids or no bids. It does not make sense to extend the deadline any longer, so we have decided to cancel the tender. However, we remain committed to this unique project, to determine why it did not receive more interest," an official stated.
In February 2021, the civic body appointed an Israeli company to develop a detailed proposal for the project. In January 2022, SMEC India was appointed to review the study and design prepared by the Israeli firm. A tender notice was issued on December 4, 2023 for the construction of a plant capable of converting saline water into potable water.
The proposed desalination plant at Manori, Malad is designed with an initial capacity of 200 MLD, which will be expanded to 400 MLD in future. The plant is expected to be operational in four years, for which approximately INR 3,520 crore will be spent.
Earlier, the Congress had alleged cartelization in the tender process and claimed that conditions were manipulated to favor a particular bidder. He sought an explanation from the municipal corporation and demanded that the entire tender process be canceled if the allegations were found to be true.
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