After inviting tenders for the 4th time, civic body selects firm to count trees.
After a delay of a year-and-a-half, the Brihamumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has finalized the contractor for carrying out the Global Positioning System-based tree census across the city and is likely to issue work orders soon.
Officials from the gardens department said that tenders were re-invited following the controversy over awarding the contract to a blacklisted firm. This was the fourth time that the department had invited the tenders to count the trees.
“We have finalized a firm to carry out the tree census. A proposal will be tabled before the tree authority shortly and then will issue the work orders immediately,” said SVR Srinivas, additional municipal commissioner.
According to the tree census carried out in 2008 by the civic body, there are 19 lakh trees across Mumbai, which has an area of 603 square kilometres.
Another official from the gardens department of the city’s municipal corporation said that the rates are much as quoted by bidders during earlier tendering processes.
“The contract has been streamlined and precise. We have given importance to accuracy,” said a civic official adding that the census will be completed in a year once it starts.
The official said that the number of trees is likely to go up by 20% across the city in the new census.
“The GPS enabled tree census will record comprehensive details of each tree in the city, including its height, girth, life expectancy and will also help keep a check on illegal felling of trees,” added the official.
Niranjan Shetty, a tree authority member has slammed the civic body for the delay in commencing the work.
“Since the work has been much delayed due to the re-tenderings, the municipal corporation should take in on priority and issue the work order at the earliest,” said Shetty.
As per the tree census that had been conducted in 2008, the S Ward (Bhandup) is city’s greenest with more than 1.59 lakh trees followed by K-East (Andheri-E) with 1.56 lakh-plus trees.
The R Central (Borivali) ward comes third with more than 1.44 lakh trees.
The C Ward (Chandanwadi) is the worst in terms of green cover with only 3,919 trees and the B Ward (Pydhonie, Dongari) with 6,786 trees.
A project mired in controversies
Officials from the gardens department said that tenders were re-invited following the controversy over awarding the contract to a blacklisted firm. This was the fourth time that the department had invited the tenders to count the trees. According to the 2008 census, there are 19 lakh trees across Mumbai Once it starts, the tree census is to be completed over a period of 12 months.
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