ROURKELA: Rourkela, which is considered a water surplus city in Odisha, still fails to provide piped water supply to about 80,000 of its total 3.20 lakh population. The city has a capacity to supply 77.8 Million Litres per Day (MLD) against the peak demand of 47.9 MLD.
Rourkela Municipal Corporation (RMC) sources said only 20 wards are fully covered with piped water supply while 13 wards are partially covered and seven new wards (facing legal hurdles over their inclusion in RMC) have no piped water supply.
Public Health & Engineering Department (PHED) sources said that it is not before 2020 when the entire population of the city would have access to piped water.
But the silver lining is that a host of water projects under Atal Mission for Renewal & Urban Transformation (AMRUT), at a combined cost of about Rs 66.26 crore, are either completed or are in various stages of implementation.
All eyes are now on the pending mega Urban Infrastructure Development Scheme for Medium & Small Town (UIDSSMT) project sanctioned in 2013-14, which has seen an upward revised cost of about Rs 89 crore. Earlier, Rs 77 crore was sanctioned under UIDSSMT project and tender was dropped last year due to quotation of higher premium. The project would ensure piped water supply to 23,000 left out households in 11 zones.
Besides, in another significant development, the administrative sources said that implementation of a project for water testing laboratory at a cost of Rs 20 crore is in advanced stage.
Recently, an AMRUT project worth about Rs 1.81 crore to repair damaged pipelines at Nala Road and adjoining areas was completed. Ongoing AMRUT projects for construction of a water treatment plant near Jhirpani at a cost of Rs 1.60 crore and replacement of the existing ‘Rising Main’ lines at Jagda at a cost of Rs 10.94 crore would be completed in June 2017.
Tender has been floated for a project of Rs 4.04 crore to lay distribution lines at Nayabazar, Timber Colony, Gopabandhupali and Madhusudanpali while work order is to be given for similar project of Rs 7.37 crore for Jagda.
Moreover, while Detailed Project Report (DPR) scheme for augmentation of supply networks at Nabakrushnanagar at estimated cost of Rs 26.50 crore has been submitted, similar project of Rs 14 crore for Jagda is at the stage of tendering.
PHED Executive Engineer Anup Patel said the last date for receipt of tender for the UIDSSMT project is January 17. He hoped the work order would be awarded in 45 days.
“By the middle of 2020, all households of the city would have access to piped water,” he asserted.