One of the reasons for the delay in implementing the project is nonavailability of land to stack the dredged material between Sangam bridge to Bund Garden bridge. Another reason is the approval awaited from the standing committee for channelisation between Mhatre bridge to Bund Garden bridge.

The different components of the project include dredging work in Mula-Mutha river, channelisation of river bed, lake formation in river bed and constructing retaining walls along river banks.

V R Patil, officer on special duty, JNNURM, said the problem of non-availability of land for stacking dredging material was pertaining only to the particular stretch of the Mula-Mutha river from Sangam bridge to Bund Garden bridge.

"Huge amount of material will be dredged out, but sending this material out of Pune will prove to be extremely expensive. The material cannot be just dumped on any plot like that. Therefore, we have come up with an option of stacking the material on the banks of the river which will be raised. This will leave proper space for flow of the river. We have done the hydraulic calculations accordingly, and will need clearance of the irrigation department for implementing this," Patil said.

He explained that desilting on most stretches on remaining part of the river has been undertaken by the PMC. "On the stretch between Warje to Mhatre bridge, we deposited the dredged material for the base of the Warje-Vitthalwadi road," Patil said. The revised completion date for the project given by the PMC in its report is June 30, 2011.

After doing the dredging work, the PMC will be channelising the river bed (it is already being done on stretches where dredging has been complete), lake formation in bed (will be undertaken in second phase) and tenders have been approved for constructing retaining walls along river banks.