HYDERABAD: The Hyderabad Metro Water Supply and Sewerage Board has set into motion the ambitious sewerage master plan for the twin cities zeroing in on a section of the old city for grounding the works.

It has already commissioned local consultants to carry out physical verification of the localities and work out the costs and a detailed project report is likely by December first week.

This would be the first component of the Rs. 2,000 crores project and would cost Rs. 100 crores.

"We are looking at the old city which poses challenges in terms of outdated infrastructure and difficult alignment. We are mapping a couple of areas," HWMSSB Managing Director K.S. Jawahar Reddy explained.

YSR sets deadline

Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, at a high-level meeting last week, had directed the HMWSSB officials to start works on the sewerage master plan at the earliest, tying up with various banks and complete it in three years.

The master plan also includes the Rs. 800 crores underground sewerage network for the old city.

System outdated

The existing network covers about 65 per cent of the MCH area while a major portion of the surrounding municipalities do not have an underground sewerage system at all.

The existing system was outdated and overloaded thanks to rapid growth of population over the years.

Keeping in view the needs of the city by 2021, the Mumbai-based consultant AIC Ltd prepared a Sewerage Master Plan covering an area of 351.63 sq. km. way back in 1994.

Master plan

"While the Master plan gave conceptual designs and a broad picture, a detailed estimate is crucial to make the plan workable making a physical verification of the areas, checking the levels and alignment, route to be taken, nalas to be crossed besides working out the costing."

Towards that end, the water board has called for expression of interest from consultants to translate the entire Master Plan into a reality while work on parts of the old city component was assigned to local consultants `since we were given two months time to begin'.

Efforts were also on to tie up funds, the crucial element of the project.

State to be approached

"We have prepared a detailed proposal seeking Government consent to authorise water board to borrow from nationalised banks. We asked it to provide debt servicing and make provisions in the budget," he said.

The water board will be forwarding the proposal to the Government in a day or two.

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