24x7 canal-based water supply project gets World Bank go-ahead

The delegation of two members from Singapore and one from Bengaluru also agreed to the civic body’s demand that the project be handled locally and no bureaucrat sitting in Chandigarh be made the chairman of the project

A three-member delegation of the World Bank (WB) gave its nod to initiate the ₹3,200-crore round-the-clock canal-based water supply project for the city following a meeting with the representatives of the municipal corporation (MC) on Tuesday.

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The delegation of two members from Singapore and one from Bengaluru also agreed to the civic body’s demand that the project be handled locally and no bureaucrat sitting in Chandigarh be made the chairman of the project.

Ludhiana Smart City Limited (LSCL) CEO Sanyam Aggarwal, mayor Balkar Singh Sandhu, senior deputy mayor Sham Sunder Malhotra and councillor Mamta Ashu were among those who represented the civic body during the meeting.

It was decided that the mayor will remain the chairman of the project, and a committee consisting of three councillors will monitor its progress.

Sharing the details, Ashu said the mayor has formed a committee that will monitor the land deal. “Currently three sites have been identified in Payal tehsil to purchase 50 acres of land for setting up a water treatment and storage system of the canal water,” said Ashu, while confirming that the WB representatives has sought the formalities pertaining to the purchase of land to be completed before March 31, otherwise the project will be shelved.

Ashu said the MC has demanded a layout of the project which will be discussed among the committee members.

“We have also asked the delegation to physically show us the locations of 122 over head reservoirs (OHR). Currently, they have identified the location through Google maps, which is not enough,” said Ashu.

On the decision why the project will not be handled from Chandigarh, Ashu said the LED streetlight project and city bus service, monitored from Chandigarh, had failed badly.

Funding in phases

Mayor Sandhu said, “The project will be completed in three phases — ₹1,000 crore will be released in the first phase, ₹2,200 crore in second and the remaining in third. While WB will bear 70% of the project cost, the state and central governments will bear 15% each.”

Know the ₹3,200-crore project

It was in May 2018 that the Central government had approved the project to supply surface water to Ludhiana, Amritsar and Patiala.

The then local bodies minister Navjot Singh Sidhu had stated that Ludhiana was proposed to be served through the Sidhwan canal.

The proposed works included water treatment facilities, transmission network, additional storage facilities and revamping of old and damaged distribution system of the city area.

The canal-based water supply will reduce the burden on tubewell and plug the depletion of groundwater. There are around 1,000 tubewells in the industrial city from which MC was supplying almost 550 million litres daily (MLD) to 20 lakh people. Of these, 100 tubewells are now lying defunct.

As the tubewells are either running dry or serving contaminated water, the government had suggested to offer surface water to the city residents.