Funds freeze halts plans to replace crumbling sewers

HYDERABAD: A series of road cave-in incidents in the city has been giving sleepless nights to Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWS&SB) officials. It also point to a deeper malaise of the crumbling sewer network, which was laid during the Nizam era.
Though the Water Board had prepared detailed project reports (DPRs) to improve the sewer network as part of the sewage master plan (SMP), it has been lying in cold storage for the past five years due to financial crunch.
The DPRs, prepared for the entire city by a consultant for the horizon year 2021, had estimated that the HMWS&SB would require around Rs
1,100 crore to replace the sewer network, but now the project cost might go up by another Rs 500 crore.
To improve the sewer network, the Water Board had divided the city into six zones and so far, the officials have completed Zone-I and II (areas in the Old City) by spending nearly Rs 400 crore under the National River Conservation Directorate (NRCD) phase-I. For the remaining four zones, the DPRs were ready, but due to financial crunch, the water board could not take up the work. The HMWS&SB has to lay nearly 85 km length sewer trunks, sub-mains and laterals at an estimated cost of Rs 281 crore in Tolichowki, Mehdipatnam, Asifnagar, Vijaynagar Colony, Nampally, Mallepally and Begum Bazar in Zone-III.
Similarly in Zone-IV, which includes Banjara Hills, Jubilee Hills, Ameerpet, Panjagutta, Khairatabad and Yousufguda, the board has proposed to lay 344 km of sewer network at a cost of Rs 535 crore. In Zone-V, 103 km of sewer network was proposed at a cost of Rs 130 crore. In Zone-VI, the DPR has proposed to cover Marredpally, Prakashnagar, Seethaphalmandi, Tarnaka and Chilkalguda to lay 394 km of sewer network at a cost of Rs 294 crore.
"Cave-in incidents at NTR Marg, Safilguda, Kukatpally and Clock Tower (Secunderabad) took place as decadesold sewer lines lost their strength. To implement the SMP, it will take at least two years, provided both state and central governments financially support the board," HMWS&SB director-operations, G Rameshwar Rao, told TOI.