Dogged by delays and rising costs,overhaul projects hit slow lane

The citys age-old wet utilities are the most symbolic of its stunted basic infrastructure with massive amounts of funds being pumped into mega overhaul projects such as the Brihanmumbai Storm Water Drainage (BRIMSTOWAD) and the Mumbai Sewage Disposal Project (MSDP). Infinite delays in their execution and consequent cost escalations hamper the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation when it comes to its Storm Water Drainage and Sewerage Operations departments. Six years after the deluge of 26/7,there are still 51 major chronic locations that see severe flooding every year during monsoons with the number of heavy rainfall days on a constant rise. At the same time,over 40 per cent of the sewer generated in the city still enters the sea without any treatment while all other metros in the country treat up to 90 per cent of its sewage. Nearly 3,628 hectares in Mumbai,comprising mainly the slum areas,has still not been brought under the sewerage network.

The BMC undertakes the massive task of removing over five lakh million cubic metres of silt from major and minor open drains running across a 1,987-km long network during the three months before monsoon. Encroachments along either side of these nallahs make the task more complex. The cost for the two-year contract has jumped from Rs 90 crore in 2008-09 to Rs 131 crore in 2010-11. Corporators have repeated lamented the inadequacy of the work carried out by contractors and their negligence of minor nullahs that inevitably causes localised flooding. During monsoons last year,BMC fined contractors Rs 40 lakh for not adhering to the de-silting time table and not transporting silt to the Deonar dumping ground.

Mithi River & other rivulets

After the deluge of 26/7 in 2005,where all rivers including the Mithi river overflowed and caused the death of 450 persons,the Shiv Sena announced in its manifesto that all sediments would be cleared from the Oshiwara,Poisar,Dahisar rivers and all the big and small canals like Mithi river,will be made clean and given their original natural form to stop the overflow. While the smaller rivers have been largely neglected,work on the Rs 1,675 crore Mithi River Project has progressed at snails pace over the past five years. As of now,seven km of the 20 km retaining wall has been constructed and almost 85 per cent of the deepening and widening work is also completed,said civic officials. The project received a boost with the Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority (MCZMA) recently according CRZ clearance for a 13-km retaining wall along the much-abused river. However,each monsoon the river swells on high tide days causing flooding in Kurla,Kalina,Saki Naka,BKC,Air India Colony and LBS Marg.

Brimstowad project

THE BMCs longest pending project that was first tabled in 1986 at the cost of Rs 600 crore seeks to overhaul the century-old storm water drainage system consisting of major drains (210 km),minor nallahs (144 km),underground nallahs (174 km) and British ear arch drains (528 km) and build eight storm water pumping stations.

The project aims at increasing the current capacity of drains of 25 mm rainfall in an hour to 50 mm and the run-off coefficient from 0.5 to 1. In cold storage,the project was revived after 26/7 deluge at Rs 1,200 crore and as of today,the 40 per cent complete project costs Rs 3,535 crore. Nine out of 20 works under phase one and 18 out of 38 works under phase two are still left.

Dilapidation of old underground arch drains has caused 14 instances of road cave-ins since 2008. 20 percent of the 700 km of such drains have been repaired or replaced. Out of the eight pumping stations proposed,only two have been completed at Irla Nallah and Haji Ali in 2009 while the remaining are stuck in a limbo due to technical obstacles and rehabilitation of project affected persons. While the Irla pumping station minimised flooding in chronic areas such as Milan Subway,Haji Ali pumping station kept Nana Chowk and Tardeo areas afloat.A grant of Rs 1000 crore grant from the centre under JNNURM has been received till date.

Replacement of old sewer lines

A LARGE part of the 1400-km of sewer lines in the city were built in the 1860s. Since 2006,only 131 km of creaky and fragile sewer lines have been replaced or repaired. There are seven waste water treatment plants in the city that treat about 60 per cent of the sewer before it is released into the sea. Sewer flowing from broken pipes often enters adjoining water pipes thus leading to contamination.

MSDP & Slum Sanitation plan

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After the completion of MSDP-I in 2004,MSDP-II was undertaken in 2006 to increase capacity of 106 km of sewer lines,lay 58 km of new lines and build eight new pumping station and increase the capacity of the existing 11 stations. Five years later,the project has failed to take off as no tenders have been invited till now. As much as Rs 100 crore has been spent on consultancy services but the detailed project report is yet to be submitted by the consultants.

Under the SSP,35,000 toilets seats were to be constructed by March last year so that there will be one seat per 50 persons. However,so far,only 2332 seats have been constructed at 93 places and under MSDP,2,500 seats have been constructed at 103 places.

Additional municipal commissioner Mohan Adtani said community-based organisations such as SPARC and B Narayan who are given the job of building these seats are not doing a good job and are subletting work to incompetent contractors. The MSDP-II project cost has soared from Rs 2,500 crore in 2006 to Rs 6,000 crore as per 2010 base prices.