KOLLAM: The drinking water project proposed for Punalur municipality has received first-phase administrative sanction of `25 crore under the AMRUT 2.0 scheme. The state-level Technical Committee of AMRUT approved the amount after the municipality submitted the project for inclusion in the urban water supply programme.
The project, estimated at Rs 25 crore, has been designed by factoring in the population growth and water demand of the town up to 2055.
Authorities said the scheme aims to ensure uninterrupted drinking water supply in the municipality, replacing the existing system implemented in 1980, which is now considered outdated and insufficient to meet present-day requirements.
The new project takes into account Punalur’s industrial, commercial, and tourism importance, as well as its role as an interstate transit hub for Sabarimala pilgrims.
In the first phase, a nine-metre-diameter well and a pump house will be constructed at Parakkadavu on the Kallada river. A water treatment plant with a capacity of 16 million litres per day will also be set up at Vattapada.
Once full approval is secured, the project will include six overhead water reservoirs at Kelenkavu, Komalamkunnu and Kanjiramala. Plans also propose laying a 3,000-metre-long raw water pipeline with a diameter of 500 mm, 20km of 350-mm clean water transmission pipelines, 10,000 household connections, and a 230-km distribution network.
'The municipality has completed procedures to acquire land required for tanks and other infrastructure and has handed it over to the Kerala Water Authority (KWA).
'A meeting attended by Water Resource Minister Roshy Augustine and the local MLA had earlier reviewed the project and discussed implementation measures. Of the total expected cost of Rs 250 crore, a first-phase proposal worth Rs 40 crore was submitted, from which Rs 25 crore has now been sanctioned as the initial instalment.
Project targets
Uninterrupted drinking water supply in the municipality, replacing the existing system implemented in 1980
In the first phase, a 9-metre-diameter well and a pump house will be constructed at Parakkadavu on the Kallada river
A water treatment plant with a capacity of 16 million litres per day will be set up at Vattapada