UK keen on water projects in city
December 7, 2006
The over Rs 4,000-crore investment of the Central Government in water and water waste reforms in Mumbai through the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) has attracted international players. The water sector of the United Kingdom (UK) has expressed its enthusiasm to participate in the water projects and services in India. At a seminar held at The Taj at Apollo Bunder on Thursday, Mission Leader of the UK trade mission of the UK Trade and Investment Cell of British High Commission Anthony Allum, said, “It is the right time for us to enter the market and we are looking forward to participating in the water sector boom in Mumbai. The government is looking for participation at a global level and we are hoping to share a symbiotic relation with the sector.” Over 12 firms, including law experts, contractors, engineering firms and consultants expressed an interest in getting involved through public-private partnerships, besides gathering intellectual resources from India and involving them in international projects.
“Our participation rests on three major issues—financial viability of the projects, a secure regulatory framework and an equal risk management sharing capacity—which will determine our contracts with companies here,” explained Sarah Thomas of law firm Pinsent Mason, while enumerating the legal aspects of the partnerships that firms in UK are looking to strike. “We will try to lobby with the government to have systems and water regulators in place that are used in UK, to simplify the processes and keep a tab on quality and pricing,” she added, mentioning that two British banks were willing to invest in the Indian water sector and were waiting for a feedback from the delegation.
The British players also felt the need for Mumbai to invest in Flood Risk Management initiatives, following the July 26 floods of 2005. Such a step would include modern technologies like flood extent mapping, hydrological and hydraulic analysis and engineering options to understand flood depth and extent, they said.
“We have technologies which will not only help the city reduce the risk and damage caused by floods, but also create a flood warning system that will give timely rainfall and flood predictions,” explained David Birch of Halcrow, a company that is currently devising a flood risk management package for Rajasthan.
Other players for the projects at the seminar included Montogomery Watson Harza (MWH), which is helping the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on their BRIMSTOWAD project and Mott Macdonald, who are already working on the feasibility study of the Middle Vaitarna project. They also made presentations on International Waste Management Treatment technologies and tunnelling techniques and are looking at bigger participation in the water sector.
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