BSDP was launched in 1995 by the World Bank and the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) to expand the city’s sewage treatment plant and improve its sanitation infrastructure. In 1998, three NGOs were invited to undertake pilot projects to demonstrate how sanitation could be improved in the slums. SPARC constructed a community toilet block based on the designs it had implemented in Pune. The toilet had pour-flush latrines in equal numbers for men and women, specially designed children’s latrines, and a community hall and a caretaker’s room on the upper floors. The pilot project was a success and in 2001 the Slum Sanitation Project (SSP) was launched using this model. Under the SSP, more projects under MSDP have been taken up by the MCGM. SSNS was awarded a contract for 320 toilet blocks or 6400 seats in 16 administrative wards in the Mumbai but only 213 toilet blocks were constructed as there were political issues and other setbacks that the Alliance had to deal with. The success of MSDP 1 enabled SSNS to leverage municipal government funding to help improve city's sanitation infrastructure in the second phase under MDSP lot 8 and lot 9.