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24x7 water supply: Chandigarh MC inks final pact with French govt
Chandigarh has been divided into 55 district metering areas, comprising nearly one sector, for project’s phase-wise implemention
Work on Chandigarh’s ambitious 24x7 water supply project will finally get underway with the municipal corporation and French government’s Agence Francaise de Developpement (AFD) signing the final project agreement on Friday.
Conceived nearly seven years ago, the project has a financial outlay of ₹578 crore, of which ₹412 crore is being provided by AFD in the form of loan, to be repaid in 15 years. In addition, the European Union is giving a grant of ₹100 crore for the project, while Chandigarh Smart City Limited will foot ₹68 crore out of the total cost.
The project will be implemented phase wise, for which the city has been divided into 55 district metering areas (DMAs), comprising nearly one sector, first of which will receive round-the-clock water supply by December 2023. The entire city is expected be covered by 2028.
The agreement was signed at Punjab Raj Bhawan between municipal commissioner Anindita Mitra on behalf of the Chandigarh municipal corporation and Bruno Bosle, country director, India, AFD, in the presence of UT administrator Banwarilal Purohit, European Union ambassador to India Ugo Astuto and Chandigarh mayor Sarbjit Kaur.
While addressing the gathering, the UT administrator said though the 24x7 water supply system had been implemented in various cities in India, the pan-city project in Chandigarh with smart water metering for all 1.77 lakh connections was first of its kind.
He said the project was the need of the hour, as the city’s water supply system was ageing. “Also, due to rise in population, criss-cross pipelines have come up across the city, making it near impossible to isolate and detect leakages leading to low pressure on upper floors of the buildings,” he added.
Astuto said, “The project was a good example of the Team Europe approach, underpinning the EU Global Gateway strategy.”
Tenders to be floated next month
Mitra said, “We will be floating the tenders in January for inviting an agency to execute the project. The agency has to complete the project in five years.”
She added that the project will be led from the front by women, who will man 20% to 50% posts at every level in the project, right from operators to managerial cadres, thereby women promoting empowerment.
How the project will help
The project aims to avoid wastage of water by minimising storage of water by the public through 24x7 continuous high-pressure supply. Other objectives include water resource augmentation through leakage reduction, smart metering, limited dependence on groundwater and monitoring of energy consumption.
Sensors in the supply system will measure water consumption, water levels and water flow rates on a real-time basis. The smart meters will provide consumers data to help them monitor their usage and reduce costs, and also allow remote monitoring and billing.
Nearly 270 km of the city’s water supply network, which is not conducive for supply of high-pressure water, will also be replaced through the project.
