A Rs.806-crore combined water supply project, covering three municipalities, six town panchayats and 1,430 rural habitations in Madurai district with the Cauvery as the main source, is to be taken up for implementation.
The project envisages supply of 100 million litres a day (MLD), of which 9.85 MLD will be earmarked for industry. It will benefit a town panchayat in Sivaganga district too.
On Saturday, the Empowered Committee, headed by Deputy Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, met at the Secretariat and cleared the project. Shortly, the administrative sanction of the government would be given, an official release stated.
As per the plan, the Cauvery will be tapped near Mettu Mahadanapuram, upstream of Kulithalai in Karur district. The total length of the water conveyance line will be 400 km from the source point.
Water lines for 2,100 km will be laid to feed the rural habitations.
Melur, Avaniapuram and Thirumangalam municipalities and Thirunagar, Paravai, Vilangudi, A. Vellalapatty, Alanganallur and Palamedu town panchayats, all located in Madurai district, will be covered, apart from the Singampuneri town panchayat in Sivaganga district.
Originally, the Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage Board, which formulated the project, proposed to cover only three municipalities, seven town panchayats and 155 rural habitations in Madurai district. At that time, the overall cost was projected at Rs.291 crore and the cost per kilo litre (KL), Rs.47.
In October, when the Committee met, it felt that the cost was high and advised the Board to modify the scope of the project.
Under the revised plan, the cost per KL is Rs.19.86. The urban component of the project will cost Rs.315 crore, which will be met from the Urban Infrastructure Development Scheme for Small and Medium Towns (UIDSSMT), which broadly comes under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). The rural component will be Rs.491 crore, which will be raised from the Minimum Needs Programme (MNP).
The Committee, before clearing this project, also considered the figures of per capita cost and per KL cost of two other projects. In the case of the Ramanathapuram project [which envisages the supply of 50 MLD initially and 100 MLD eventually], the per KL cost is Rs.12 and in respect of Hogenakkal [127 MLD in the first stage and about 160 MLD in the final stage], it will be Rs.30.
Those who attended the Committee meeting were K. Gnanadesikan, Principal Secretary (Finance); Niranjan Mardi, Secretary in-charge of Municipal Administration and Water Supply Department; Swaran Singh, TWAD Board Chairman and Managing Director; and Anita Praveen, Secretary in-charge of Planning, Development and Special Initiatives.
