OVER £8,000,000 SPENT TO RECLAIM TWO SQUARE MILES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18009, 20 November 1926, Page 10

OVER £8,000,000 SPENT TO RECLAIM TWO SQUARE MILES.

COLOSSAL BLUNDERS IN BOMBAY HARBOUR SCHEME. (Special to the “Star.") LONDON, September 24. The official inquiry into the astounding discrepancy of nearly £6,000.000 in the 1 estimates of the cost of a scheme for reclaiming some two square miles of land at the entrance to Bombay was resumed yesterday in London. The project is known as the Bombay Back Bay Reclamation Scheme, and its collapse has been described as “the greatest engineering failure in the history of India.” The scheme was sanctioned in 1920 and estimated to cost £2,695,000. When a Government committee investigated the minority reported that the scheme could not be completed at a less cost than £5.470,000. The majority suggested that only part should be proceeded with. Hitherto the Committee of Inquiry, appointed by the Government of India, have met in Bombay. In London they arc to hear evidence from Lord Lloyd (who was Governor-General of Bombay in 1920, when the scheme was inaugurated) and Sir George Buchanan, the advisory engineer, who has been blamed for under-estimating the cost. Sir Henry Lawrence, late ActingGovernor of Bombay, gave evidence yesterday. “Wise to Go On." The “astoundingly optimistic statements" w r hich had been made concerning the schemes were referred to by Sir M. Visvcsvaray3’a (who presided in the absence through illness of Sir Grimwood Mears). As an instance, he said, a member of the council stated that there v'ould be a profit of 30 or 40 crores of rupees (£22,000,000 to £30,000,000). Sir Henry: He slipped up on one of the cyphers. (Laughter). The Chairman: Do you consider the scheme a failure, or is it still on its trial? Sir Henry: I would say that, it certainly is still on its trial. The word failure is undoubtedly premature. The Chairman: Do you think it would be wise to go on with the scheme ? Sir Henry: It would be wise to go on with the latter part of the scheme, as the reclamation would be of immense value to Bombay. Reclamation, he said, was really essential to a continuance of the commercial life of Bombay. Land was so dear that a fiat in Bombay cost more than a similar flat in the West End of London, and a short time ago nearly £IOO per square yard was paid for land.

Mr Billimoria (a member of the Committee) questioned whether in the whole of Sir Henry’s 25 years' experience in India he had encountered a scheme which revealed such colossal engineering blunders, and he asked if it were not true that Sir George Buchanan let the Government down by his estimates.

Sir Henry: I was not a member of the Government at the time the estimates were presented.