State clears Mumbai project for major facelift

The steering committee under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh cleared the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's (BMC) solid waste management project of Rs 497 crore for sending to the Centre for aecuring financial assistance under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM).

Under the NURM norms, for grade I cities like Mumbai, the Centre funds 35 per cent of the project's infrastructure project, while the state government provides assistance of up to 15 per cent of the project cost and rest of the cost is incurred by the municipal corporation concerned.

Under the project, a methane gas generation and power co-generation plant based on solid waste will be developed. This project will be carried out as a public-private partnership (PPP).

Presently, nearly 6,000 tonnes of solid waste is generated in Mumbai, which is transported By nearly 900 vehicles to these dumping grounds. However, presently it is possible to process only 100 to 150 tonnes.

The Centre has so far cleared Rs 1,550 crore Middle Vaitarna project, Rs 300 crore road component of the Mumbai Urban Infrastructure Project (MUIP) for financial assistance.

Besides, the Centre has agreed to provide 100 per cent financial assistance as a special case outside the scope of JNNURM for the Rs 1,800 crore storm water drain project better known as Brimstowad.

However, it is yet to take a decision on the state government's demand to provide viability gap funding (VGF) for the Rs 20,000 crore first phase of the Mumbai metro project, Rs 1,298 crore Mithi River cleaning and Development Project and Rs 1,200 crore Bandra-Worli sea link project and Rs 800 crore Thane Metro project.

Besides, two projects of Mumbai, the Centre has approved 42 projects of various other cities like Pune, Nashik, Nagpur, Aurangabad among others.

Under the JNNURM, amounting to Rs 5,857 crore, the Centre will provide Rs 2,761 crore as financial assistance for these projects and it has so far disbursed Rs 461 crore for these projects.

The state government has so far released Rs 1,317 crore as its share in these projects, informs the press release issued by the chief minister's office.