IE : Civic body not to carry out water reforms through private agencies : Oct 23,2007

IE : Civic body not to carry out water reforms through private agencies : Oct 23,2007

Civic body not to carry out water reforms through private agencies

EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
OCTOBER 22

THE Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will undertake implementation of necessary water reforms which would later culminate into 24X7 water supply in a phased manner, departmentally and not through private agencies. This decision was taken in group leaders meeting held on Monday.

During discussion on water distribution improvement project of ‘K/East’ ward which was funded by World Bank and implemented on reforms suggested by New Zealand consultants – Castalia Strategic advisors, the group leaders decided that the BMC is capable enough to carry reforms departmentally.

BJP leader Bhalchandra Shirsat said that the BMC had sufficient technical knowledge and manpower to carry necessary reforms. “When the reforms can be carried by us why involve outside agencies and privatise it,” he said.

Castalia had started the reform work in K-east ward since January 2006 and have now submitted their draft report which has analysed the performance of K east water supply system against parameters like duration of water supply hours, line pressures, per capita consumption and leakage percentage in comparison with few world cities. The report observed drawbacks in existing management system operations in the K-east ward like: no specialised cadre of water engineers, no incentive for dedication to work, no power with the department to hire men, material; delegation of authorities are not commensurate with responsibilities, no clear set of service targets for the department of management system.

The proposal, which was tabled by Municipal Commissioner Jairaj Phatak, stated that the management models suggested by Castalia for Mumbai as a whole and K-east as an individual ward should be executed departmentally through agencies fixed by inviting tenders. The reforms will include: installation of district meters, bulk and individual meters on all the water connections through an agency responsible for supply, installation, operation, maintenance and reading of all the meters; implementation of a comprehensive non revenue water reduction programme which would divide the city under District Metering Areas (DMAs), conduct water audit for each and every DMA, identify sections of distribution network that require rehabilitation which would result in introduction of 24X7 water supply in the city in phased manner.

Publication : IE; Section : MN; Pg : 3; Date : 23/10/07

URL :http://70.86.150.130/indianexpress/ArticleText.aspx?article=23_10_2007_523_010