Partial commissioning of water project in April

BY OUR STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI, Feb 25: The city's first 24x7 water supply project will be commissioned partially in April.

The much awaited South Guwahati West Water Supply Project which will cover areas in the western part of the city from Bharalumukh to Lokapriya Gopith Bordoloi Intertiol Airport at Borjhar once it is fully commissioned.

The partial commissioning in April will cover Bharalumukh, Kalipur, Kamakhya Gate, Maligaon (northern side of AT Road), Pandu, Boripara, Pandav gar, Kamakhya gar, Pandu Port Road, Adabari Joymoti gar and Jalukbari areas.

The decision to partially commission the water supply project in April was taken at a meeting of the Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) held here on Thursday under the chair of GMDA CEO Barli Deka. Top GMDA officials, experts and engineers associated with the project were present at the meeting and they chalked out a time-bound action plan to expedite the ongoing work of the water supply project so that it could be partially commissioned in April.

The South Guwahati West Water Supply Project was initially scheduled to be completed in 2011. It has already missed a couple of revised deadlines, the last ones being in April and December 2015.

The project will produce 107 million litres of water per day (MLD) for residents of West Guwahati and Jalukbari Assembly constituencies. Nearly 4.5 lakh, 5.83 lakh and 8.96 lakh populace will receive piped water in 2017, 2025 and 2040 with full commissioning of the project.

The GMDA has planned to hand over the project to Guwahati Jal Board before the monsoon.

An official who was present at the Thursday's meeting said the GMDA would soon review the status of progress of execution of three other ambitious water supply projects for the city being funded by Japan Intertiol Cooperation Agency (JICA) and Asian Development Fund (ADB).

While the JICA-funded project for the northern part of Guwahati is to cover an area of 27.90 sq. km, the project funded by the same agency for the south-central part of the city is to cover around 76 sq. km. The ADB-funded project would cover an area of around 71 sq km, sources said.

The four ambitious projects, finced by different agencies, are designed to cover an estimated city population of 22,45,343 by 2030 and 33,41,029 by 2040 with piped water.

CEO Barli Deka has asked officials and experts involved with the projects to overcome all hurdles that come in the way of execution of such schemes. She said the state government has accorded top priority on ensuring round-the-clock water supply to maximum number of city dwellers.