By IANS
New Delhi : The central government will give Rs.12.5 billion to Mumbai's civic organisation to tackle recurring floods in the city and modernise its storm water drainage system.
The assistance to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) under the Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission would help civic authorities to immediately start and complete the job in four years, Urban Development Minister S. Jaipal Reddy said Thursday after the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
"This is not in principle approval. It is the actual approval and the work can start now," he clarified, adding that the project, implemented by BMC but monitored by the central government, would save Mumbai from annual floods.
The move is expected to save the national exchequer Rs.15 billion a year.
"The drainage system is more than 150 years old and is designed for rainfall of 25 mm per hour and a run off coefficient of 0.5. Improvement of the storm water drainage system for higher rainfall intensity reaching up to 100 mm per hour with a higher run-off coefficient of 1 will reduce flooding in Mumbai," the minister said.