Chandigarh MC, French agency discuss water supply project

The meeting comes nearly 10 days after the civic body’s last-minute proposal to scrap the ambitious round-the-clock pan-Chandigarh water supply project was rejected by councillors during the general House meeting on September 30

A delegation from the French development agency — Agence Française de Développement (AFD) — held a meeting with officials of the Chandigarh municipal corporation (MC) on Friday to discuss the city’s 24x7 water supply project.

The UT administration had first signed a memorandum of understanding with the AFD in 2016.

The meeting comes nearly 10 days after the civic body’s last-minute proposal to scrap the ambitious round-the-clock pan-Chandigarh water supply project was rejected by councillors during the general House meeting on September 30. During the meeting, MC officials raised several queries, particularly about the project’s funding structure and overall implementation viability.

A senior MC official, familiar with Friday’s discussions, said, “Various aspects like finances, project viability and implementation process were discussed in detail. MC officials, after consulting with the high power committee, will raise queries in a letter to the AFD, so that the concerns can be resolved,”

The UT administration had first signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the AFD in 2016.As per the plan, Chandigarh Smart City Limited was to execute a pilot project in Manimajra, costing ₹165 crore. Inaugurated last year, the project failed to meet the expectations, according the a report of the civic body.

Despite the setbacks, the MC can roll out the pan-city project with a financial outlay of ₹510 crore, of which ₹412 crore was to come as a loan from the AFD, repayable over 15 years, through increased water bills charged from residents. “The ₹412-crore loan was calculated in 2022. The expenses are expected to nearly double the outlay by the time work begins,” said a senior official.