MUMBAI: The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), and not the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), will undertake the next water supply project for the city. The city will receive 865 million litres daily (mld) once the project is completed, which is expected in a decade.

MMRDA had announced in 2010 that it would develop the Rs 8,500-crore Pinjal water supply project at its cost. The state irrigation department had even granted in-principle approval for the project. But MMRDA recently informed the department that it was no longer interested in taking up the project as it has been able to tap water from other sources for the metropolitan region.

The BMC then approached the department and sought permission to construct the dam. "We have started work on the feasibility study, environment impact study and the land acquisition plan is being prepared,'' said Rajiv Jalota, additional municipal commissioner in-charge of projects.

The Pinjal project is part of the Damanganga-Pinjal link project, which is one of the 30 link projects, including 16 inter-basin links planned in peninsular India and three in central India. It will help augment 1,500 mld, of which 865 mld will be supplied to Mumbai.

It involves construction of a dam across the Damanganga, near Bhugad village, bordering Valsad district of Gujarat, and Nashik district in Maharashtra, and another dam across the Vagh at Khargihill in Thane district. The water will be brought to the Pinjal reservoir, which is to be constructed in Wada taluka of Thane district, through a tunnel. The water will be brought to Gundavali through another tunnel, and from there pumped to the city.