Kerala - Alappuzha   

Long wait for potable water

ALAPPUZHA: The tardy progress in the State government’s Rs.156-crore drinking water project announced six months ago is likely to become a long wait for potable water in the region.

The project, aimed at supplying water from Kadapra in Pathanamthitta to Alappuzha municipality and eight surrounding panchayats, is yet to be inaugurated and would delay the project by two years.

Municipal chairman P.P. Chittaranjan said the government has given its nod to issue an order allowing the Alappuzha municipality to sign an agreement with the Kerala Water Authority (KWA) for the project.

Tenders would be called only after the agreement is signed, he said.

Mr. Chittaranjan, who met the KWA authorities at Jala Bhavan in Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday, said a government order on the agreement would be issued by Monday. “We are hopeful of calling for tenders before the end of this month,” he told The Hindu.

The project would be inaugurated after the tenders are awarded and it would take over two years for the completion of a huge project such as this, Mr. Chittaranjan said.

“All other formalities are over. The Union Ministry for Urban Development has sanctioned Rs.91.94 crore under its Urban Infrastructure Development Scheme for Small and Medium Towns. The State government has sanctioned its share of Rs.10 crore and the municipality, out of its share of Rs.9 crore, has set aside Rs.1.5 crore.

The rest, including the share from the eight beneficiary panchayats, will be ready soon,” he said.

The project, expected to free Alappuzha from excessive dependence on ill-maintained reverse osmosis plants, would have pipelines carrying water from a Pamba River-fed well at Cyclemukku in Kadapra to a water treatment plant at Karumadi, near Ambalapuzha.

Treated water from the plant would be distributed to select areas.

As many as 2,15,473 people in Alappuzha will benefit from the project and each person will get a daily supply of 135 litres of potable water, if the project eventually gets completed.

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Long wait for potable water

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