UN Habitat team to review City water project

AN 11-member UN Habitat team comprising delegates from China, Vietnam, Kenya and Nepal will arrive in Bhopal on July 31 to review the Water for Asian Cities (WAC) project.

Four cities of the State - Bhopal, Indore, Gwalior and Jabalpur - have been included in the project that is funded jointly by the UN Habitat and ADB, which aims at improving water supply and sanitation services to the urban poor as well as securing and managing pro-poor investments.

The team will arrive in Indore on August 1 where delegates will review preparations for the Rs 53 lakh water supply project carried out through public private partnership in ward no 64.

Twelve hundred families in five localities of the ward - Shakti Nagar, Shiv Nagar, Chaudhary Nagar, Sai Nagar and Kamal Nagar - have been included in the project for which the District Urban Development Authority (DUDA) is the nodal agency.

“Narmada water will be ferried from Moosakhedi to a one lakh gallon overhead tank in Shiv Nagar from where it will be funnelled to all five localities through an 1,100 m long pipeline of 250 mm diameter. The OHT costing Rs 18 lakh has already been built and laying of pipelines will be completed within 60 days,” revealed Mayor-in-Council member in-charge of Waterworks Munnalal Yadav.

While the infrastructure is being provided by UN Habitat the supply and maintenance costs will be borne by residents themselves, particularly those belonging to the fairer sex. “We have tried to involve as many women as possible to run and maintain the water supply project,” said Yadav. It may be recalled that DUDA recently sanctioned Rs 20 lakh for the WAC project after it was cleared by the Mayor-in-Council.

According to civic body officials, UN Habitat delegates will also scrutinise applications for 604 poverty pockets identified as potential candidates for the WAC project by a survey of City slums carried out jointly by IMC and the Indore chapter of Bharatiya Grameen Mahila Sangh. If it gets the UN go-ahead, 14 slum localities in five clusters will be included in the first phase of the project.

“The NGO has been carrying out extensive programmes to spread awareness through interactive sessions, camps and plays about sanitation and the need to conserve water in the selected slums. Volunteers have also constructed ‘demonstration’ toilets in a bid to check the practice of defecating in the open,” revealed an IMC official.