Mumbai: BMC sets up expert panel to review rebuilding of colonial-era water reservoir

BMC headquarters. File Pic

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said on Tuesday it has set up a committee of experts, including IIT Bombay professors, to review the proposal to rebuild a colonial-era water reservoir constructed beneath the iconic Hanging Garden in south Mumbai, reported news agency PTI.

The expert panel is going to inspect a portion of the reservoir from inside on December 7, leading to water cut in some parts of the city that day, said a BMC release, reported PTI.

The committee, comprising IIT Bombay professors, local residents and civic officials, will review the proposal to rebuild the reservoir from where water is supplied to most parts of south Mumbai, said the release, reported PTI.

The panel is expected to suggest the correct procedure to rebuild the reservoir in the upscale Malabar Hill area that was constructed in the 1880s, reported PTI.

The committee is going to inspect compartment No. 2 of the reservoir from inside on Thursday for two hours -- from 8 am to 10 am. To facilitate this process, the compartment will be emptied and as a result, there will be a 10 per cent to 100 per cent water cut in some parts of the city, said the release, reported PTI.

The BMC has decided to reconstruct the more than a century-old water reservoir due to leakage issues, but local citizens and political parties have opposed the proposal as more than 300 trees are required to be cut for the work, reported PTI.

Meanwhile, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Monday invited bids to set up a desalination plant with a capacity of 200 MLD per day in the western suburbs, reported PTI.

The civic body has called for bids for the construction of the desalination plant in the Manori area, and the operation and maintenance for 20 years, an official said, reported PTI.

Though the bids have been invited for setting a 200 MLD capacity plant, it should be "expandable to 400 MLD", he said, adding that the intended parties have been given one month to submit their bids, reported PTI.

"The project has already received the approval of the Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority (MCZMA) and all other sanctions are also in place," the official told PTI.

The project will be set up on 12 hectares of government land under the control of the Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation at Manori, he said, reported PTI.

The civic body had earlier said that the desalination plant would require a capital investment of Rs 1,600 crore and Rs 1,920 crore in operational costs for 20 years, reported PTI.

(With inputs from PTI)