Mumbai: Nearly two weeks after it was sent back to the civic administration over cost concerns, the Gargai dam project is set to be tabled again before the statutory BMC standing committee for approval. The contractor that quoted the lowest bid has agreed to slash the cost from about 9% above BMC’s estimate to nearly 2%.BMC had estimated the cost of constructing the dam in Ogada village of Palghar district at Rs 3,006 crore. Soma consortium had emerged as the lowest bidder. Objecting to the steep contract value, the BJP-led standing committee returned the proposal, saying such a significant deviation from the estimate could not be approved. Following this, BMC held three rounds of negotiations with the contractor. The consortium has now agreed to execute the project at Rs 3,276 crore—nearly 2% above the original estimate—resulting in savings of around Rs 269 crore, said a BMC official. Officials said the contractor was told that execution risks were already factored into the project, leaving little justification for the earlier higher quote. The project, however, still awaits two key clearances —from the central wildlife board and the forest departments at state and central levels. “The contractor’s initial bid for the project was 10.9% above the estimated cost. Following three rounds of negotiations, this was brought down to nearly 9%. The proposal was then placed before the civic standing committee, which called for further reduction. Over the past two weeks, we held another three rounds of negotiations with the contractor, which agreed to cut the cost further,” said an official, adding that the first year post-work order will go into securing permissions and creating infrastructure for relocation of six affected villages. Dam construction is planned in the second year, followed by installation of electrical systems in the third year. The project includes a 1,200kW hydropower unit, intended to offset the dam’s electricity costs. Soma consortium had also executed the Middle Vaitarna dam project. Once commissioned, the Gargai dam will add 440 million litres per day to Mumbai’s water supply, making it the city’s first new reservoir since Middle Vaitarna became operational in 2014. BMC is eyeing its completion by 2029, coinciding with the next Lok Sabha and assembly elections.
