ROURKELA: In a bid to ensure safe piped drinking water to all urban households, the Rourkela Municipal Corporation (RMC) is planning to implement eight water supply projects worth Rs 155.26 crore while work of three projects worth Rs 14.35 crore is going on.
The ongoing project of renovation of damaged pipelines at Nala Road and nearby areas at a cost of Rs 1.81 crore under Atal Mission for Renewal and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) scheme is scheduled to be completed by October end. Similarly, another AMRUT project of Rs 1.6 crore for water treatment plant near Jhirpani and Rs 10.94 crore project to replace the existing ‘Rising Main’ lines at Jagda are slated to be completed by June 2017.
Executive Engineer of Public Health and Engineering Department (PHED) Anup Patel informed that a fresh AMRUT project of Rs 4.04 crore approved in 2016-17 to lay distribution lines at Nayabazaar, Gopabandhupali, Madhusudanpali and Timber Colony slums is likely to get administrative approval shortly.
Likewise, another project under AMRUT in 2015-16 to augment distribution network at Jagda is in tendering stage at a downward revised cost of Rs 7.37 crore against the previous estimate of Rs 9.4 crore while Detailed Project Reports (DPRs) are being prepared for water supply schemes under AMRUT at Jhartarang and Nabakrushnanagar at an estimated cost of Rs 26.50 crore and Rs 14 crore respectively, he added.
About the pending mega project under Urban Infrastructure Development Scheme for Medium and Small Town (UIDSSMT) sanctioned in 2013-14, Patel said fresh tender has been floated and bid would open on November 17 at an upward revised cost of around 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 civic body envisages to complete the project, which would ensure piped water supply to 23,000 left out households in 11 zones, in 30 months after awarding work order.
Patel claimed that the PHED has water supply capacity of around 80 Million Litres Per Day (MLD) but it is able to supply 47.9 MLD due to inadequate distribution networks. If everything goes as per plans, all households of Rourkela would get safe piped water supply in next 30 months, he hoped.
RMC sources informed that while 20 Wards are fully covered with piped water supply, 13 Wards are partially covered and seven new Wards (facing legal hurdles) do not have water supply at all.