KOCHI: More than a year ago, on February 28, 2016, then UDF government had inaugurated the work on a water supply augmentation project at Kalamassery, for which ₹238 crore had been earmarked in the 2014 State Budget.
However, even the land needed for the first phase of the project has not yet been handed over to the Kerala Water Authority (KWA). For the record, the government had granted administrative sanction for the project in 2015.
It was one of the initiatives that the UDF government had “inaugurated” at the fag end of its tenure. Even posters had come up on the treatment plant with a projected capacity of 135 million litres a day (mld).
Accordingly, Kinfra was to hand over six acres to the KWA for constructing the plant. While it was “inter-departmental delays” earlier, “political” issues are playing spoilsport now.
The project involves the construction of the plant and a pipeline to draw raw water from the Periyar.
The project is expected to serve a number of places that get water only for two to three days a week. It will also resolve the issue of reduced pressure in pumping that leaves several places at the far end of the distribution system facing acute water shortage.
Incidentally, the low pressure in the pipeline is prompting many households to illegally attach pumpsets to it. “If water reaches households in proper pressure, the question of ‘stealing’ does not arise,” said a senior KWA official.
The proposed plant is expected to address water shortage at Thrikkakara, Eloor, Cheranelloor, and other suburban areas.
Meanwhile, speaking to The Hindu , a KWA official said the authorities had not given priority to the project, though several areas in the city were in the grip of severe water crisis.
It is also learnt that the KWA had a plan to design the proposed plant by incorporating the latest technology alongside the Aluva plant. The proposal had come up in the backdrop of the delay in transfer of land at Kalamassery to the KWA.
However, such capacity buildup in less than four acres in Aluva could make the project costly, the official said. It was just another option for the government to go ahead with the project, he added.
