Mumbai: In a major boost to north Mumbai’s landscape, Union Cabinet Minister Piyush Goyal’s push has resulted in the `246 crore Dahisar River Rejuvenation Project reaching its final stretch. This follows reviews by Goyal since his election as Lok Sabha MP in May 2024.

The project focuses on intercepting sewage, enhancing water quality, and ensuring a cleaner, healthier river stretch. As part of the project, two state-of-the-art, fully automated Sewerage Treatment Plants (STPs) based on advanced Membrane Bioreactor (MBR) technology have been constructed along the Dahisar River.

One of the STPs is a 5.0 MLD STP at Indira Nagar and another one a 1.5 MLD STP at Sukurwadi. Both STPs have achieved 100% completion of civil and mechanical works, with commissioning and handover processes currently underway.

The treated water from these facilities will be reused for non-potable purposes such as gardening, road cleaning and other municipal applications, contributing to sustainable water management.

The Dahisar River, stretching 12 km from Tulsi Lake to Manori Creek, deteriorated over years due to untreated waste. Following the July 26, 2005 Mumbai floods, the Chitale Committee recommended rejuvenation. Under the BMC’s Brihanmumbai StormWater Disposal initiative, the project was undertaken. While the project faced historical delays, the interventions by Goyal during the last 1.5 years have ensured that the work moved on much faster.

The rejuvenation project also includes: Improvement of a 4.75 km stretch of the Dahisar River; Sewerage Network: Construction of 4.4 km of sewer lines and installation of interceptors for diversion of dry weather flow; Urban Integration: Development of service roads and construction of roadside drains to support better civic infrastructure

Goyal said: “Our priority is to prevent flooding and decisively reduce the hardships faced by the people of Uttar

The progress is driven by a Multi-Department Review Mechanism established for north Mumbai, bringing together officials to resolve issues. Regular follow-ups through his Lok Kalyan Karyalaya ensure swift implementation on the ground.

Mumbai: Following strong citizen resistance, the BMC has significantly scaled down tree cutting for the Malabar Hill Reservoir project. The original plan would have impacted 389 trees, including 200 slated for transplantation. Under a revised design featuring a 52 Million litres per day (MLD) alternate tank, the number of affected trees has been reduced to under 100.

An alternative water tank will be built on a plot behind the iconic Hanging Gardens, above the existing reservoir. The project is vital to ensure continuous supply during repairs to the reservoir, as any failure of the current structure could affect South Mumbai’s distribution system, claims, civic officials. Under the revised plan, the alternative tank falls within the “funnel of vision,” making approval from the state government’s Urban Development Department mandatory. This requirement is likely to subject the project to an additional level of scrutiny before it can progress further.

“Spread across 4,000 sq m, the alternative tank project will allocate 2,200 sq m exclusively for reservoir construction, while the remaining area will be used for supporting infrastructure such as valves, micro-tunnelling systems, and pumps,” he added. The BMC is planning to engage experts in cases where trees are affected, with efforts focused on transplanting those that may obstruct the project. The trees likely to be impacted include Ashoka, Fanas, Bel, Mango, and Jambhul species. The civic body has revised the construction plan for the alternative tank to preserve large-girth trees.

The century-old reservoir beneath Hanging Gardens supplies 147 MLD of water to South Mumbai. Following a 2022 audit that flagged structural concerns, the BMC approved a reconstruction plan worth nearly Rs 698 crore, which included building a 90 MLD replacement tank. Work commenced in 2023, but the project soon drew public attention after notices were placed on trees in Hanging Gardens slated for removal, triggering strong opposition from Malabar Hill residents.

Amid the protests, the BMC shelved its plan in 2023 to demolish and reconstruct the reservoir. Instead, it shifted to a phased repair strategy that necessitates the construction of an alternative tank. However, residents have questioned the need for such a facility, arguing that repairs could be carried out in phases by isolating sections of the reservoir, with the remaining capacity deemed sufficient to maintain supply. They have also indicated plans to approach the court over the issue.

Mumbai: The Mumbai Municipal Corporation is planning a large-scale project to improve the quality of infrastructure in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region. The road cement concreting project has been started in two phases to provide pothole-free roads to the citizens of Mumbai. This will make road travel easier. While the Municipal Corporation is carrying out road works, on the other hand, the Municipal Corporation has developed a computer system (real-time dashboard) that displays detailed information about the roads so that Mumbaikars can also get information about their area. This information ‘dashboard’ is open to everyone on the website of the Mumbai Municipal Corporation at the link https://roads.mcgm.gov.in/publicdashboard. It is noteworthy that this ‘dashboard’ will be updated every day. Municipal Corporation Commissioner Mrs. Ashwini Bhide reviewed the road works in detail. She directed the officers in the review meeting that the road cement concreting work should be done within the stipulated time and in a quality manner.

In this review meeting, Bhide said that the first phase of the ambitious road cement concreting project of the Mumbai Municipal Corporation should be completed by December 12, 2026, phase 2 should be completed by May 2027. There will be no extension in this. There is a need to be more vigilant about the quality of roads. It should be ensured that the ongoing road works are completed by May 31, 2026. It should be ensured that no work is started during the monsoon. So that the citizens do not face any trouble. Mrs. Bhide said that the Municipal Corporation has started a ‘dashboard’ to ensure transparency in the cement road project.

This review meeting was held at the office of Municipal Commissioner Ashwini Bhide. On this occasion, Additional Municipal Commissioner (Projects) Mr. Abhijit Bangar, Deputy Commissioner (Infrastructure) Mr. Girish Nikam, Deputy Commissioner (Commissioner’s Office) Mr. Prashant Gaikwad, Chief Engineer (Roads) Mr. Mantiya Swamy etc. along with engineers were present.

Cement concreting work in Mumbai should be of high quality, there should be transparency in it. Therefore, Municipal Commissioner Mrs. Ashwini Bhide has paid special attention to the quality of this project. Bhide has also given clear instructions to keep the information updated on the ‘dashboard’ of the Municipal Corporation. She has also said that special care should be taken that the citizens are not inconvenienced during the road work. Cement concreting of 2,118 roads (length 691.08 km) is being done under Phase 1 and Phase 2 of the major road cement concreting project of the Mumbai Municipal Corporation. Out of these, end-to-end concreting (PQC) of 1,170 roads (length 316.84 km) has been completed. While 559 roads have been completed from junction to junction (171.40 km). Thus, out of the total 691.08 km, concreting of 488.24 km roads i.e. 71% concreting has been completed. Cement concreting (PQC) work of remaining 389 roads (102.04 km) will be started soon. Thus, information about the roads whose cement concreting has been completed, on which work is in progress and on which work will be started soon is given in a separate column on the ‘Dashboard’ of road works on the website of the Municipal Corporation. Detailed information about the process of pouring concrete (PQC) under the road concreting project is available to the citizens zone-wise, administrative department-wise (ward office). This has made it easier and simpler for citizens to see the current status of road work in any part of their zone. Along with this, citizens also have information about the length and width of the road in their area where cement concreting work is being done, when the work started, when it will be completed, as well as what percentage of the work has been completed. Here, citizens will also get to see images showing the current condition of the road. Mumbai residents can contact the municipal authorities and contractors to get detailed information about the contractor who has been given the job of concreting the road in their area, the name and contact number of the municipal engineer responsible for the road and both of these are present on the ‘dashboard’. This will enable them to communicate directly with the contractor and the responsible municipal official. Apart from this, if citizens want to know the current status of the road work, they can enter the name of the road in the ‘search bar’ on the dashboard homepage and the detailed information will appear on the screen. Not only this, information about cement concreting has also been provided through the Mumbai map so that citizens can get information about roads in a more convenient way.