In a fresh bid invited by the BMC for setting up a 200 million litres per day (MLD) desalination plant on 12 hectares of land in Manori village in the western suburbs, 21 bidders participated in the pre-bid meeting held on Monday. The list of interested bidders includes companies from Spain and the Middle East. However, the estimated project cost has now been raised to Rs. 3,200 crore, significantly higher than the initial tender estimate of Rs. 2,000 crore. T
The civic body's earlier attempts to attract multiple bidders had failed, resulting in the scrapping of the previous tender in August 2024. To encourage broader participation this time, the Swiss Challenge method used in earlier tenders was dropped. Fresh bids were invited on June 1 by the BMC’s Water Supply Projects Department for the installation of a seawater reverse osmosis system. The tender also includes the operation and maintenance of the plant for a period of 20 years, with the submission deadline set for June 26.
A senior civic official said, "We have received a good response to the tender this time. For the new plant, three tunnels have been planned—two for the intake of seawater and one for outfall, which will discharge inert remains. We intend to draw water from at least 2–3 km off the shoreline, where the sea is deeper and less polluted."
With Mumbai’s population projected to approach two crore by 2041, the city’s daily water demand is expected to rise to 6,426 million litres. he BMC currently supplies 3,950 million litres per day (MLD) of water, while the city's demand has risen to 4,250 MLD. To address this growing need, the desalination plant project has been fast-tracked by the civic body, especially since other projects, such as the Gargai dam, are expected to take several more years to complete.
The idea of a desalination plant for Mumbai was first proposed in 2007. However, it could gain momentum in 2020 with approval from the Uddhav Thackeray-led state government. In February 2021, BMC appointed an Israeli company to develop a detailed proposal, followed by reviewing the designs in January 2022. After clearances from the Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority (MCZMA) and completion of the design phase, a tender for constructing the plant was floated on December 4, 2023. The BMC has allocated Rs. 100 crore as initial funding for the project in its 2025-26 budget.
