The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will soon appoint a consultant for chalking out a master plan and drafting a detailed project report for flood mitigation measures and environmental protection along the Mithi River.
Alongside this, the consultant will also guide the Mumbai civic body in transforming the river banks into a key tourist hotspot.
This is a part of the civic body's 'Rejuvenation of Rivers' project, in which the process of widening the rivers, curbing water pollution level,s and desilting works will be carried out in a phased manner. Alongside the Mithi, for this project, BMC has also earned the Poisar, Oshiwara, and Dahisar rivers as well.
In the 2021-22 municipal budget, BMC has allotted a provisional Rs 50 crores fund for this project and civic officials stated tenders for the appointing consultants have been floated already.
"The consultant will study the topography and flow of the river and chalk out a plan for creating a sewerage network so that pollution level could be curbed," a senior civic official told FPJ.
"Alongside improving the water quality, we are aiming to beautify the banks of the river so that it can be turned into a tourist hotspot as well," the official added.
The civic official stated, 95 per cent of river widening and deepening have already been completed and the construction of retaining wall by the river have been finished by 80 per cent so far.
The civic body is carrying out the Mithi River rejuvenation plan in four phases. In the first phase the BMC will carry out the construction of interceptors and sewage lines, in the second phase a retaining wall and service road will be constructed, in the third phase flood gates will be installed in some of the key flooding points in the vicinity of the river and in the fourth phase, a tunnel will be constructed between Ghatkopar waste facility and Bapat Nalla.
Officials stated that the holding capacity of the retaining walls has increased by three times and the carrying capacity of the river has also increased by two times.
For the financial year 2021-22, the civic body has proposed a provisional Rs 347 crores for carrying out development works in the Mithi River.
