The Tiruchirapalli City Corporation will soon forward a proposal to the State government for implementing a new drinking water supply scheme for the five newly added wards in the city based on a project report prepared by a consultant.
The Corporation Council has already approved the execution of a new drinking water scheme for the wards 61 to 65. The wards were created following the merger of the Tiruverumbur Town Panchayat, and Pappakurichi, Ellakudi, Keezha Kalkandarkottai, and Alathur panchayats, all in the eastern suburbs of the city, with the Corporation.
The Corporation intends to increase the per capita water supply to the residents of the five wards to 135 litres a day on a par with other parts of the city and in line with the norms of Central Public Health and Environmental Engineering Organisation of the Union Urban Development Ministry.
WAPCOS Ltd., the consultant appointed by the civic body to prepare the project report, has recently submitted an interim report indicating that the project would require an investment of Rs.49.50 crore. It has also submitted a detail project report for laying pumping mains for a distance of 22.71 km and construction of eight overhead tanks initially at a cost of Rs.23.70 crore.
The detailed project report for the second phase of the works involving laying of distribution lines and installation of a Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system for effective monitoring of the scheme are under preparation, according to an official resolution tabled at the Corporation Council meeting recently.
In the meantime, the State government has sanctioned Rs.8 crore from the Operation and Maintenance Gap Filling Fund 2013-14 for the water scheme and already Rs.4 crore has been released to the civic body.
The Corporation would now forward the project proposal to the Commissioner of Municipal Administration to get the technical and administrative sanction for the project.
The civic body will also initiate measures to finalise financial tie-up arrangements and seek to raise funds from Central or State government as subsidy or subsidy-cum-loan.