NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday announced that the Centre would meet the entire estimated cost of Rs. 1,200 crore required for executing the Brihanmumbai Storm Water Drainage Project (BRIMSTOWAD) to deal with flooding problem. With this decision, taken as promised by Dr. Singh to residents of Mumbai after a review of the major programmes for the city, the last hurdle has been cleared for taking up the project to ameliorate its flooding problem, a statement issued by the Prime Minister's Office here said.

At Wednesday's meeting attended by Minister of State in the PMO, Prithviraj Chauhan; Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, T.K.A. Nair; Member-Secretary of the Planning Commission, Secretaries from the Ministries of Finance, Urban Development, Department of IPP and other officials, a number of other projects for Mumbai also came up for review. These included those pertaining to sewage disposal, urban transport, metro corridors, urban infrastructure, water supply and river protection.

Directive

Dr. Singh said that the development needs of Mumbai should receive high priority and its problems redressed without any delay. In particular, he directed the expeditious approval of the Middle Vaitarna Water Supply Project (Mumbai IV) and the urban infrastructure projects by October/November this year.

The Prime Minister also reviewed the status of the 5,378 acres of saltpan land located in the suburbs of Mumbai. According to the PMO statement, it was decided that efforts of Central and State agencies be coordinated and urgent steps evolved for using the land for rehabilitating slum-dwellers.

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