Study on Brimstowad update delayed by a year

The city will have to wait longer to be safe from floods.

The city will have to wait longer to be safe from floods.

An ambitious study, meant to suggest ways to upgrade the city’s storm water drains and prevent flooding around each nullah in the city, will take one more year to get completed.

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The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) had, in 2006, appointed a consultant, MWH Global, to study the city’s drainage system. It was to suggest how to update the Brimstowad project, first conceived in 1993, to overhaul the city’s drains.

For instance, while the current Brimstowad project recommends 8 pumping stations in the city, the study is likely to recommend more.

The consultant was to base its recommendations on the city’s growing population.

Along with changing demographics, the project also involved mapping - through aerial photography - the city’s contour levels.

The Rs15-crore study was to be completed in 21 months. However, the civic body then extended the scope of the study and extended the deadline.

The last extension ended in October, by when the consultant was supposed to submit the report.

MWH Global, however, has now requested the civic body for another one-year extension. The consultant has assured the civic body that the study will be completed by October next year.

An official from MWH Global, requesting anonymity, said, "The study is exhaustive and involves us running models for each and every major and minor nullah in the city. Also, conducting aerial photography for mapping contours took a lot of time and delayed the project.”

Once ready, civic officials plan to use this study to assign civic staff to tackle specific nullahs in the city.

“Currently, one nullah is handled by staff from different wards, making coordination between them difficult. Once this study is over, we are planning to give charge of nullahs to a few officers, rendering ward boundaries inconsequential,” said additional municipal commissioner Aseem Gupta.