BMC plans capacity building workshops for staff

With major projects lined up such as the coastal road project and other ongoing projects such as the Mithi River development project and rehabilitation of the storm water drain network, the civic body has decided to hold comprehensive capacity building workshops for its officials to bring in better technical expertise among its cadre.

With major projects lined up such as the coastal road project and other ongoing projects such as the Mithi River development project and rehabilitation of the storm water drain network, the civic body has decided to hold comprehensive capacity building workshops for its officials to bring in better technical expertise among its cadre.

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The BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has tied up with the Administrative Staff College of India to launch a comprehensive programme to train its officials, which also includes organising visits abroad to study projects in metro cities in other countries.

“It is important to make efforts to build and increase proficiency of engineers keeping in mind the many upcoming projects,” said Rajiv Jalota, additional civic commissioner (projects).

Taking a step in this direction, the BMC conducted a two-day interactive workshop for its officials that concluded on Friday with a focus on inducing an environment-friendly approach in planning and executing big infrastructure projects.

Experts from the Netherlands were called to conduct the workshop, which was also attended by engineers from other government agencies working in the city such as Mumbai Metropolitan Region Area Development Authority (MMRDA), Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) among others.

“We are trying to bring the approach of making the environment a priority when any infrastructure project is planned. Currently, a project is planned first and the environment impact is studied as a consequence,” said Joeri Aulman of Royal Haskoning DHV, a consultancy firm from Netherlands, who conducted the workshop.

“In cities such as Mumbai and in the Netherlands it is all the more important to preserve natural spaces,” Aulman said.