Deccan Chronicle 19.08.2009
GHMC wants 5 more years to fix city drains
Hyderabad, Aug. 18: Hyderabadis will have to put up with water-logged roads, overflowing nalas and flooding for another five years.
The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation needs at least Rs 6,000 crore to remodel the stormwater drains in the city. It is now looking towards the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) for funds.
Sources said even if the Union urban development ministry clears the project, it will take five years to execute the storm water drainage master plan.
The city has 625 km of drain network and a complete overhaul of the system will rescue Hyderabadis from flooding during the monsoon. Voyants Solutions Private Limited has prepared the master plan for Greater Hyderabad.
Voyants Solutions studied the drainage network in the newly added areas in Greater Hyderabad and integrated its report with the one submitted by Kirloskar Consultants for the core city making it a comprehensive master plan.
It may be mentioned that Kirloskar Consultants suggested construction of retaining walls on major nalas by removing encroachments.
However, the work has been extremely tardy even though the consultant got all its dues of over Rs 70 lakh.
Kirloskar Consultants was appointed after the August 2000 floods and though it submitted a report, the municipal corporation could not make much progress in removing the 6,000-odd encroachments along the drains.
At most places, the drain width had shrunk to two metres or less when it has to be at least 40 metres.
