HYDERABAD: The state government has cancelled the Keshavapuram project contract envisaged by the former BRS regime for meeting the drinking water requirements of Hyderabad city under the Godavari Phase-2 project and instead decided to lift 15 tmcft from Mallannasagar.
The cancelled project was designed to lift 10 tmcft of water from Kondapochamma Sagar and fill the Keshavapuram reservoir from where it would be pumped to Hyderabad. Orders scrapping the project were issued by the Municipal Administration department on Tuesday and were made public on Wednesday.
Government sources said that lifting water from Mallannasagar to meet the needs of Hyderabad would save around Rs 2,000 crore. Of the 15 tmcft to be lifted from Mallannasagar, 10 tmcft would be used for supplying drinking water to Hyderabad city while the remaining 5 tmcft will be used to fill Osmansagar and Himayathsagar.
These proposals were also approved during the recent Cabinet meeting. With the Cabinet giving the green signal, the government has decided to invite tenders for the project tentatively titled: “Godavari Drinking Water Supply Phase-2 and Rejuvenation of Osmansagar and Himayathsagar for Musi River Cleanup”.
As per the new plan, a pipeline would be laid to lift 15 tmcft of water from Mallannasagar to the Ghanpur pumphouse from where it would be pumped to meet the needs of Hyderabad and to fill Himayathsagar and Osmansagar.
Sizable reduction in operating costs projected
“The storage capacity of Mallannasagar is 50 tmcft while the capacity of Kondapochamma Sagar is only 16 tmcft. As per sluice level, water cannot be pumped unless a minimum 8 tmcft of water is available in Kondapochamma Sagar. So the government has changed the source and has decided to lift water from Mallannasagar instead of Kondapochamma Sagar,” the source said.
They pointed out that as per the previous plans, pumping was needed at five places. The new plans would reduce the need for pumping to only two places. “Most of the water will flow through gravity as per the new plan. With this, the operation and maintenance and electricity cost will reduce substantially,” the sources said.
Presently, the cost incurred on supplying one kilo litre per day (KLD) from Godavari and Krishna rivers to Hyderabad is Rs 48. The government projections say that this would drop substantially to Rs 4 per KLD once this project is completed.
It may be mentioned here that the contract for the Keshavapuram Reservoir works was awarded to the Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Limited (MEIL). However, the work did not start. Sources said that recently, MEIL wrote to the state government stating that they can’t do work as per Standard Schedule of Rates (SSR) of 2017.
MEIL urged the government to revise the estimates as per SSR-2024 rates. However, the state government rejected this request by MEIL.