Nine years after the project was proposed, 110 villages which were added to BBMP limits in 2005 are finally going to get Cauvery water connections.
In an inauguration ceremony held on Wednesday, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said, “The project will benefit 12 lakh residents of five BBMP zones – Mahadevapura, Bommanahalli, Rajarajeshwari Nagar, Dasarahalli and Byatarayanapura.”
The total cost of the project is estimated to be Rs 1,886 crore and is expected to be completed in two years. The work will commence in the end of May.
“Apart from this, a proposal was sent to the Union government to lay underground drainage lines and set up waste processing units and intermediate sewage pumping stations among other facilities in these 110 villages spread across 225 sqkm. The cost of this project is estimated to be Rs 5,052 crore,” said Kemparamaiah, Chief Engineer, BWSSB.
He said that the water board has been directed by the CM to provide additional 10 TMC of Cauvery water to these villages under the Cauvery V Stage project. The city is presently receiving about 19 TMC of Cauvery water every year.
According to Kemparamaiah, of the Rs 1,886 crore set aside for the project, around Rs 1,500 crore will be used for laying of water pipelines in these villages and the rest would be utilised for stabilising unaccounted-for-water (UWF) supply units in the core areas of the city.
While the BWSSB will fund 35% of the total project cost, the rest will be borne by the Karnataka government.
“The ongoing projects are extremely costly as leakages have to be detaced and plugged. We are replacing old CI pipes with ductile iron pipes. This reduces the cost and will help save more water,” said Manjunath, Additional Chief Engineer, BWSSB.
The BWSSB had formulated the plan for this project in 2009 with an estimated cost of Rs 2,379 crore. The proposal was submitted to the Karnataka government’s approval and accordingly, in 2010, the water board got the nod. A detailed project report was filed and the forwarded to the Ministry of Urban Development and Central Public Health Environmental Engineering Organisation for its approval.
In 2011, the proposal was sent back to the BWSSB to include not just water pipelines but also another plan for the sewage system in these five zones.
The BWSSB revised its DPR and sent it back for the government’s approval and finally, in 2015, the Karnataka government allotted Rs 5,018 crore for the water supply and sewage system projects.
“After this, the government took two years to decide how much water to supply to these areas. Now they have laid the foundation stone for the project. If it has taken them nine years to decide if they should go ahead with the project or not, then the work will take longer. Right now, we have estimated two years. If all goes well, it will be completed by then,” a source from BWSSB told TNM.