BMC Spends $802m on Water Crisis

The largest civic body in Asia, India’s Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), said it will allocate Rs37.69bn($802m) towards water supply projects and operational works in a bid to stem the country’s water crisis.

The provision was declared by Municipal Commissioner Swadheen Kshatriya during the announcement about BMC’s budget for the financial year 2010-11.

Nearly Rs14.62bn ($311m) will be allocated for water supply, while Rs23.07bn ($491m) will be for work executed by the water operation department.

BMC has also allocated Rs50m ($1.06m) for consultancy services for evaluating the availability of water from the Garai river.

The civic body will also focus on expanding the water distribution system, improving rain-water harvesting, leak detection and decreasing non-revenue water.

It will not initiate new projects in the 2010-11 financial year because of the effects of the global economic downturn.