As a step towards preventing depletion of groundwater table, nine waterbodies under Mangaluru City South Assembly segment will be developed by the State government, according to D. Vedavyas Kamath, MLA.
Addressing presspersons here on Friday, he said that of these water bodies, eight will be developed by Mangaluru Urban Development Authority (MUDA). Mangaluru Smart City Ltd. (MSCL) will develop the Gujjara Kere at Jeppu.
The MLA said that MUDA has invited bids to develop seven waterbodies at an estimated cost of ₹ 3.65 crore. They are Kadri Kaibattalu Kere (₹ 90 lakh); Jogimutt Kere (₹ 80 lakh); Kulashekara Kere (₹ 70 lakh); Jeppinamogaru Karmbisthana Vaidyanatha Temple Kere (₹ 25 lakh); Jalligudda Kere (₹ 65 lakh); Kudroli Nadupalli Jumma Masjid Kere (₹ 25 lakh) and Kundodi Kere at Bajal (₹ 10 lakh).
The project also comprised removing silt from some waterbodies.
In addition, MUDA is now developing Bairady Kere at an estimated cost of ₹ 1.30 crore. It might require another ₹ 70 lakh to complete this project.
Mr. Kamath said that MSCL has invited bids to develop the Gujjara Kere on a large scale.
All these waterbodies will be developed in such a way that it would help people take their morning and evening walks in a leisurely manner.
Jalasiri
The MLA said that the government has awarded a ₹ 792.42-crore contract for upgrading water supply infrastructure and operation and maintenance of the water management system in the city to Suez and DRS company to ensure round-the-clock water supply.
This project, funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), will be taken up by Karnataka Urban Infrastructure Development and Finance Corporation (KUIDFC) for the city corporation under Project Jalasiri.
The company would operate and maintain the water supply infrastructure for the corporation for eight years. Additional water supply infrastructure would be created under the project.
It includes building two more ground-level water storage units, constructing eight more boosting pumphouses, building a water filtration unit at Ramalkatte near Thumbe, building 20 more overhead tanks in the city, replacing old water supply lines to a length of 65 km, laying new water supply network pipelines, replacement of water meters and associated works such as restoring those roads dug up for laying pipelines and the like.
The project cost covered the operation and maintenance cost of ₹ 204.75 crore for eight years.
