BMC to wind up 24-hr water supply project
After facing inordinate delays, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has decided to discontinue its Water Distribution Improvement Programme that was launched to provide round the clock water supply to Mumbai.
The Rs 275 crore programme was launched to improve water networks and phase wise beginning of 24 hour water supply in all areas.
According to BMC, contractor Suez Environment India Pvt Ltd filed for arbitration against the civic body. While only about 20% of project work has been completed, its five-year deadline had ended in July 2019. The corporation had given an extension of one year to the project, but the contractor had refused to continue.
BMC told the media that for 24 hours of uninterrupted supply, the contractor had asked BMC to provide about 30% additional water for the entire city. Currently, BMC supplies 3,900 million litres of water to Mumbai daily.
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Since its inception, the project has been under the scanner for inordinate delays. While corporators have also raised the issue, last year, the Comptroller Auditor General (CAG) had rapped the BMC over the project's slow progress.
In these five years, as part of a pilot project, H West ward (Bandra, Khar Road and Santacruz) and T ward (Mulund) were to receive 24 hours water supply. To date, BMC has paid the contractor about Rs 47 crore for the executed work.
Under the project, the BMC had set a target of achieving 10 services, including geographic information system (GIS) mapping of all water networks, a survey of slum connections, quality assurance, consumer survey, setting up a call centre for consumers, asset registration and introduction of a leakage detection system.
