Utility shifting a challenge for stormwater drain works

Drinking water, sewerage pipelines at many places have to be realigned

Utility shifting is set to be a major challenge for the stormwater drain works being taken up by GHMC under the Strategic Nala Development Programme (SNDP).

Drinking water pipelines and sewerage lines criss-crossing in the lanes and bylanes of the city will have to be shifted from wherever the pipelines for stormwater transfer are being planned.

Property acquisition had been the major issue in all the earlier proposals, including Kirloskar and Voyants, which advised widening of the existing drains by removing thousands of properties lining them. In order to avoid property acquisition which would cause huge drain on the exchequer, the latest consultant NCPE Infra came up with proposals to fork the nalas wherever a difficult property is encountered.