Route for drawing water for Maradu plant to be decided tomorrow

The project has been facing problems for more than a year

District Collector P.I. Shiekh Pareeth on Saturday visited the two routes suggested by the Kerala Water Authority to draw water from the Piravom river at Pazhoor for the treatment plant at Maradu that will supply water to West Kochi.

The Rs. 200-crore project under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) for water supply augmentation in the city has been facing problems for more than a year in laying pipeline through the nine-kilometre-stretch out of the total 24 kilometres required to bring raw water to the treatment plant.

Decision on the route would be finalised after discussions with the implementing agency, KWA, and the public works department (PWD) and the representatives of the panchayat through which the pipelines are being laid, Mr. Pareeth told

The Hindu .

The pipeline laying can cause trouble as the roads cannot be used for some time. The panchayat representatives, fearing this problem, do not want the pipeline to make its route through their panchayat. Piravom, Arakunnam, Maneed, Edakatuvayil, Vettikkal and Mulanthuruthy are the areas that are expected to be affected by one of the suggested routes.

Land has been acquired for the original route proposed by the KWA at Arakunnam, to build the sump. However, the local people protested against the digging of the road that will cause inconvenience to the public.

The new route suggested through Vettikkal would require more land acquisition and an additional pump to cross over an elevated area. This pumping would have a recurring charge of Rs. 80 lakh a year, said the KWA official.