Mumbai's Water Crisis: BMC Proposes Rs 5,396-Crore Gargai Dam To Add 440 Million Litres Per Day Supply

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation is pushing forward a massive infrastructure plan to tackle Mumbai's growing water deficit, the Hindustan Times reported.

A proposal worth Rs 5,396 crore for the Gargai dam project will be tabled before the BMC standing committee on Wednesday for approval.

Two contractors have submitted bids for the work. Soma Enterprise from Hyderabad quoted Rs 3,334 crore while Mumbai-based Hindustan Construction Company bid Rs 3,493 crore. Both figures exceed BMC's internal estimate of Rs 3,006 crore.

The dam will come up on the Gargai River close to Ogde village in Wada taluka, Palghar district. Standing 69 metres tall and stretching 979.4 metres in length, it will be linked to the Modak Sagar reservoir via a 1.6-kilometre water tunnel.

The project also incorporates a 1.2-MW hydroelectric unit along with highway realignment work in the affected zone.

Beyond construction, the proposal accounts for Rs 133 crore toward relocating residents of six villages and Rs 233 crore for transplanting roughly 3.1 lakh trees.

The total sanctioned amount covers GST, civic taxes, two years of maintenance and projected cost escalations.

The dam is slated for completion in 48 months, excluding monsoon periods. It will be the BMC's largest water project since Middle Vaitarna dam came online in 2014.

Mumbai currently receives around 4,000 MLD against a demand of 4,505 MLD. Projections suggest that the requirement will climb to 6,535 MLD by 2041.

The Gargai project is one of three planned sources, alongside Pinjal and the Damanganga-Pinjal River Link, that would collectively add 2,891 MLD.

The project has remained stuck for over a decade due to state-level concerns about water allocation.

Sitaram Shelar, convenor of the Pani Haqq Samiti, flagged broader equity concerns: "Such big-ticket projects are a waste and are now being pushed simply because we have excess funds to spend. Projects like this create an island of prosperity for island cities like Mumbai, surrounded by the water-scarce MMR."

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