Thane’s civic infrastructure has come under increasing pressure as its population rose from about 1.8 mn in 2011 to an estimated 2.7 mn. The city also receives a large daily commuter population, adding to demand on public services. Between 1,500 and 1,600 t of waste are generated each day across commercial districts, residential areas and informal settlements. This has increased the need for dependable, regular municipal services across the city.

The Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) has proposed a 10-year urban sanitation project valued at Rs. 3.3 bn under a design, build, finance, operate and transfer (DBFOT) model. The plan will combine door-to-door collection, waste transportation, street sweeping, sanitation services in slum areas and public grievance redressal within one operating framework.

The municipal area’s nine ward committees will be organised into three operating packages. Package 1 will cover Diva, Mumbra and Kalwa, while Package 2 will include Majiwada-Manpada, Vartaknagar and Lokmanya-Savarkarnagar. Package 3 will cover Uthalsar, Naupada-Kopri and Wagle. Separate tenders have been issued for each package, with first-year spending estimated at Rs. 2.5 bn.

The project will use a central command centre to monitor daily operations and provide a 24-hour grievance redressal service. This is intended to give residents a formal channel for reporting missed collections, sanitation concerns and other service gaps. The arrangement places responsibility for oversight within a unified system rather than distributing it across separate activities.

Contractor payments will be linked to performance. Fixed operating costs will account for 50 per cent of billing, while the remaining 50 per cent will depend on performance benchmarks, with penalties for shortcomings. At the end of the 10-year contract, permanent assets including workshops and parking lots will be transferred to TMC, providing the civic body with infrastructure for continued sanitation operations.