DDA to waterproof CWG flats basement (Times of India 06 February 2011)

New Delhi: The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) is going to carry out waterproofing of the basement area of the Commonwealth Games Village.For this,experts from Australia and Mumbai have been roped in to ascertain the best method of doing the same,the cost of which will be borne by Emaar MGF.Various methods will be tried and tested before settling for one to render the basement waterproof.It might also be done by using a combination of various methods.DDA will supervise the entire exercise,but the cost will be borne by Emaar MGF, said DDA spokesperson,Neemo Dhar.Last year,just before the start of the Games,controversy brewed over the flooding of the basements at the Village.
We have submitted a proposal to DDA to provide another coating of waterproofing in the Village basement.This is in view of the unprecedented torrential rain in Delhi last year and the Yamuna reaching beyond danger level.We have approached national and international companies of repute to provide waterproofing solutions at the CWG Village.The exercise will be carried out under the supervision of Emaar MGF,DDA and other technical and structural bodies, said Sanjiv Saddy,senior VP,corporate affairs,Emaar MGF.
The basements of the 34 towers in the Games Village which is located on the Yamuna riverbed had got flooded before the start of the Games due to heavy rain and the rise in waterlevel in the area.This had also resulted in the malfunctioning of the elevators.But this years monsoon can spell a bigger disaster if water seeps into the power sub-stations that are located in basement-II of the Village.Sources say that the DDA was not given a go-ahead by the state and central electricity authorities to set up power sub-stations in the Village basement,but the L-G issued a gazette notification and permitted DDA to do so.
The waterproofing exercise,sources say,is aimed at avoiding any kind of trouble once the flats are auctioned off.As of now,DDA has proposed to auction around 100 of the 11,000 flats to ascertain the market price of the flats before we decide on how to go about allotting the rest of the flats.This proposal has been sent to the urban development ministry for approval, said Dhar.