Government to procure two excavator machines to clean Yamuna, Najafgarh drain

The Irrigation and Flood Control Department has invited bids for procurement of these machines along with four years of operations and maintenance, officials said.

New Delhi: The Delhi government is set to procure two amphibious excavator machines for dredging and cleaning of Yamuna and larger drains under a project, which is likely to cost around ₹5 crore, senior government officials said on Sunday. These machines will be designed to function in marshy swamp areas and will help in desilting, removal of solid waste, unwanted vegetation as well as landscaping work.

The bidding process is likely to be finalised by next week (Sanchit Khanna/ HT)

The Irrigation and Flood Control Department has invited bids for procurement of these machines along with four years of operations and maintenance, officials said.

“These amphibious machines will have a boom length of six metre and unloading height from 4.5 metre of water level . They can also be used in narrow areas for removal of silt, sludge, and floating material. The hydraulic arms of the equipment will be foldable so that the machines can travel below the low height bridges in the drains,” an official explained.

The cost of the excavators — which willoperate for 54 months each —is estimated to be ₹4.4 crore. The bidding process is likely to be finalised by next week.

In June, the Delhi government launched a comprehensive 45-point action plan to rejuvenate the Yamuna within the next two years with proposals of adding floating skimmers to collect floating debris, floating pontoons in major drains having an outfall in the river to trap waste entering the river.

On Wednesday, under a separate project, Delhi water minister Parvesh Verma said that a state-of-the-art dredging machine from Denmark will be brought to the Capital by December to aid in desilting and dredging of the Yamuna and Najafgarh drain. Verma said the equipment, “Watermaster Classic IV”, will be used to augment the Yamuna cleaning efforts.

Manufactured by a Finland-based private company, the “Watermaster Classic IV”s is an amphibious multipurpose dredger capable of operating both on land and in water from dry ground to a depth of six metres. The machine can perform multiple functions such as excavation, suction dredging, piling and raking, replacing the need for several single-purpose machines, Verma had explained.

Powered by a turbocharged six-cylinder Caterpillar C7.1 diesel engine, the dredger has a suction capacity of up to 600 cubic metre per hour and can discharge silt up to 1.5km away through metal pipes, as per the company brochure. Its stabilisers allow it to anchor independently in water without support vessels, and its air-conditioned cabin for the driver enables year-round operation under extreme weather conditions. It uses a cutter and suction system to remove compacted silt, turning it into semi-solid sludge before transferring it away. It can also scoop floating waste and has a crane mechanism to assemble its modular parts, the document mentioned.