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Mumbai: Residents of Andheri living in existing buildings
as well as those who have bought premium flats in posh
areas will have to wait till 2011 before MCGB readies
itself to supply additional water.
The mushrooming of residential and commercial buildings
in the H-West (Bandra) and K-West (Andheri) municipal
wards is attributed to the transfer of development rights
(TDR) over the last three years.
As per a rough estimate the area used under TDR by the
builder is almost 10 lakh square metres! The estimated
rise in the population of these two suburbs is to the
tune of 20 lakhs during these six years.
Not only the civic infrastructure (roads, drainage and
water supply) is not growing in proportion to the boom,
it has not matched even the normal growth.
A project (to build a water tunnel from Veravali, Andheri)
could have met the requirements caused by the normal
growth. It should have started 6 years ago but was delayed
because of the politicians who support the illegal slums.
Because the slums couldn’t be removed, the project
was delayed. It is only now that, thanks to the pressure
of the builders’ lobby, this project has been
revived. Tenders have been invited and the work may
begin during the second half of 2006.
This tunnel will be a dedicated pipeline for Andheri
(W) alone. However, Bandra (west) too would benefit
as the Versova outlet that supplies to Andheri would
be freed and part of its supply would be diverted to
Bandra.
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