BMC to spend Rs 24 crore on Juhu beach cleaning

Mumbai: After six tenders for the cleaning of Juhu Chowpatty were scrapped due to lack of response, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has finally found a contractor on the seventh attempt. The civic body will spend nearly Rs 24 crore for six years, which means that more than Rs 1 lakh will be spent on beach cleaning every day.

According to civic officials, the present seven-year contract of Juhu beach cleaning is coming to an end in June 2018. To appoint a new contractor for a period of next six years, the BMC had issued e-tenders. However, the tenders had to be given extensions five times due to lack of response from contractors and technical issues.

On the sixth attempt, two bids were received. However, for the beach cleaning during dry and rainy season, their rates were found to be much higher and lower than the base rate respectively. Due to large-scale difference in the rates, tenders were scrapped again. On the seventh attempt, the BMC received bids from Spectron Engineers, Shreeshakti Enterprises and Drishti Life Saving.

“Among the three bidders, Shreeshakti Enter-prises were found to be partners in the M/s RSJ (joint consortium) company, which was issued show-cause notice for carrying debris in its vehicles in the garbage transport contract. Hence, their bid was rejected. Among the remaining two bids, Spectron Enterprises eme-rged the lowest bidder,” said a senior civic official.

As per the contract, the beach-cleaning rate will increase with each year. For the first year, Rs 3.36 crore will be spent. The expenditure will increase to Rs 4.21 crore on the sixth year. The contractor is expected to remove 125 metric tonnes of garbage during monsoon and 20 MT waste on dry season.

Juhu Chowpatty is one of the major tourist attractions in Mumbai and witnesses a lot of visitors. In addition to this, several religious festivals are also celebrated on the beach. Fishermen, living along the coast, alsouse the beach for their business.