BMC swears by Brimstowad, says all will be well next year

The floods across Mumbai on Friday after a torrential downpour for nearly two days was a bitter reminder of how the city's ambitious project, planned by the civic body after the July 26, 2005 deluge, to tackle floods has failed to take off.

The Brihanmumbai storm water disposal system (Brimstowad), which has already suffered massive delays and cost escalations, contributed little towards tackling Friday's deluge.
The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), too, in its audit report on local bodies, has pointed out that the project was beset with delays and cost escalation.

The Brimstowad project includes installation of eight pumping stations and 58 different works for the upgradation and improvement of the city's century-old drainage network.

The work was expected to be completed in two phases. The initial cost of Rs 1,200 crore has now escalated to Rs 4,000 crore. The project has missed two deadlines – 2011 and 2015. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has now set a deadline of 2019.

Out of the eight pumping stations planned, only four have been made operational since 2006. While Haji Ali, Lovegrove and Cleveland at Worli, and Irla at Juhu are functional, work on the Guzdarband (Santa Cruz) and Britannia (Reay Road) pumping station is in progress. Work on the Mahul and Mogra stations is yet to start.

A senior civic official from the storm water drains department said: "Delayed permissions from other bodies is the reason. The work at Mahul has not started so far. The clearance for the project was given only recently by the Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority . The Mogra pumping station at Andheri is awaiting permission."

That's not all. Out of the 58 work, only 26 have been completed so far. Tenders have been invited for the rest. The purpose of the project was to upgrade the rain-receding capacity of the drainage system.

"At present, storm water drains have the capacity to recede rain water by 25-30 mm per hour. The project aims to to take this up by 50 mm per hour," the official said.

The BMC had also planned to improve and divert about 40 nullahs and replace old drainage lines.

BMC officials say that the entire blame cannot be placed on the civic body.

"Land acquisition and removal of slum encroachments have been major hurdles. We also have to rehabilitate project-affected people and get clearances from the Coastal Zone Management Authority and Coastal Regulatory Zone. We need green signal from the environment department, if there are mangroves or trees to be cut. Only then can we invite tenders for construction work," said a senior official.

SVR Srinivas, in-charge of the storm water drains department, admitted to the delays. "After the first two pumping stations, the next two (Cleveland and Lovegrove) were commissioned before this monsoon. By next monsoon, we plan to start the Britannia and Guzdarbandh pumping stations, which are low-lying areas. So, six of the eight pumping stations are likely to be operational by next year," he said.

Mithi River project also delayed

The widening and deepening of the Mithi River is also part of the Brimstowad project. The initial project of Rs 1,200 crore has now gone up to Rs1,600 crore. Work is still in progress. The BMC has taken up work on 11.8 km of the 17-km river. MMRDA is supposed to carry out the rest.