Pune civic body standing panel clears 24x7 water supply proposal

The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) standing committee on Tuesday approved a proposal to supply water to every household in the city on 24X7 basis by appointing an Italian company as a consultant.

Committee chairman Ganesh Bidkar told reporters that the tender to appoint Italian company Studio Gallery Ingeria (SGI) as a consultant at the cost of Rs18.81 crore for the continuous water supply project was approved. The proposal was approved unanimously.

The proposal for equitable distribution of water would be implemented after it is approved by the general body (GB).

He said that the estimated cost of the 24X7 water supply project is about Rs1,800 crore. After the implementation of the project, every household would have continuous water supply, leakage of water would stop completely and there would be computerised data of usage of water by consumers.

The consultant is supposed to execute all steps of the project from preparing detailed project report (DPR) to completion and maintenance of the project. The consultant will provide service for 11 years, including five-and-a-half years of preparing DPR and implementation of the project.

In the first phase, the consultant should prepare DPR, conduct basic water audit, detect distribution losses and get approval to the DPR from authorities. In the second phase, the consultant is supposed to prepare tenders for the project and ensure implementation of the project in five years.

In the third phase, the consultant is supposed to ensure repairing and maintenance, to prevent distribution losses, to increase number of water treatment plants and to increase automation.
Bidkar said that the consultant is supposed to take into account problems in water supply in the next three decades.

As a part of implementation of the project, there would be metered water supply in the city. The PMC had earlier given commitment through GB for water metering and water audit for seeking funds under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM).

It is for the fifth time that the tender for appointment of a consultant is considered. Four attempts of appointing a consultant for 24X7 water supply project by approving a tender failed earlier either due to technical reasons.

The city is provided water from four dams of Panshet, Warasgaon, Temghar and Khadakwasla. In spite of abundant water storage in the dams, there are many localities in the city where citizens suffer from water scarcity.