Work on two more pumping stations gathers steam

“But that meant rehabilitating about 300 shanties,” said Chief Engineer (Storm Water Drains) L S Vhatkar. “This would have been an expensive and time consuming exercise. So we have gone back to the original site near the Love Grove sewage pumping station and earmarked 4,300 square metres of land for the new station. We expect to start work at the earliest,” said Vhatkar. The original plot was bigger at 6,000 square meters,but the new site though smaller does not have any technical issues.

Work at Cleveland Bunder too was stuck due to rehabilitation of affected people. With surveys to determine the eligibility of occupants of the 92 structures in the area for rehabilitation complete,56 families are set to be shifted soon to tenements built at Antop Hill under the Shivshahi Punarvasan Prakalp Ltd (SPPL). “The eligibility of the remaining families is under process. However,we can start shifting those cleared within the next two weeks,” said Vhatkar.

While the construction of the Haji Ali and Irla Nullah stations took two-and-a-half years,officials say they will expedite the work on the remaining two stations and complete them before 2012 monsoon.

Even as the cost of BRIMSTOWAD has escalated to Rs 2,000 crore,more than 60 per cent of the work remains incomplete.