HYDERABAD: The Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWS&SB) is looking for investment from external financial agencies for implementation of new water supply projects in the city.
The board has held a meeting with representatives of Korea Water Resources Corporation of the Republic of Korea (South Korea) in this regard here recently.
As many as eight water supply projects, estimated to cost around `12,545 crore and are ready for implementation, are kept pending due to non-availability of funds. The Water Board is exploring ways of securing external financial investments for urgent projects.
A few days ago, a three-member team from Korea Water Resources Corporation consisting of Ryu Won Chung, Heejung Shin and Jin Soo Hwang visited the HMWS&SB’s office. Board managing director M Jagadeeswar gave a PowerPoint presentation on some of the proposed projects to them.
The Korean team expressed their interest to fund some of the projects in and around Greater Hyderabad after holding further detailed discussions.
HMWS&SB officials told Express that they were looking, apart from other options, for an investor who can fund the total project cost. It will be repaid on annuity model as this would not result in payment of interest more than 11 to 12 per cent in 15 to 20 years. For example, the prestigious Outer Ring Road (ORR) is being taken up on annuity model with funding from Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
The other option mooted by HMWS&SB is that the investor can invest in the total project cost on Build, Own, Operate and Transfer (BOOT) model. The board is also looking for other suitable financing models.
The proposed projects are: Source Development Project at Sunkishala, Nagarjunasagar (`1,200 crore); Source Transmission Project, Krishna Phase-IV (`2,200 crore); Trunk Transmission Project along ORR Ring Main (`2,860 crore); Trunk Distribution Project along Radial Mains (`1,040 crore); Distribution Network Project for Peripheral Areas (`3,195 crore; Water Safety Plan Project (`1,250 crore); District Metering Area Project (`500 crore); and SCADA Project (`300 crore).