The Hindu 21.08.2013
German bank to fund drinking water project for Tirunelveli
Private Consultant submits technical report on the water project. A German bank will fund the Corporation’s proposed drinking water project.
The project seeks to draw water from the Ariyanayagipuram check dam and envisages an outlay of Rs. 230 crore.
Loan
The
Frankfurt-based public sector development bank, KfW, will provide Rs.
69 crore (30 per cent of the total project cost) as a loan. The rest of
the funding will come from the Integrated Urban Development Mission.
The
Corporation, which has established drinking water pumping stations at
Kondaanagaram, Suththamalli, Kurukkuthurai, Theeppaatchiamman Temple,
Manappadaiveedu, Thirumalaikozhunthupuram and Karuppanthurai, is getting
50.10 million litres of water a day.
Since the
Corporation’s population is expected to cross 7 lakh within the next 30
years, the urban local body initially decided to bring water directly
from the Papanasam dam, one the three prime reservoirs in the district,
on an outlay of Rs.100 crore.
Though a team of
Corporation officials and Mayor Vijila Sathyananth visited the dam site
and the proposed areas through which the pipelines were to be laid, the
proposal was stalled over consent to be obtained from the National Tiger
Conservation Authority as pipelines would traverse the
Kalakkad–Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve.
Instead, it was then decided to draw water from the Ariyanayagipuram check dam.
CM’s nod
The proposal got the nod from Chief Minister J.Jayalalithaa.
The
KfW has agreed to release Rs.69 crore, and it will also sanction a
subsidy of Rs.46 crore (20 per cent of the total project cost).
The remaining 10 per cent of the project cost of Rs.23 crore will be borne by the Tirunelveli Corporation.
The
German bank has laid down conditions, including raising the deposit for
drinking water connections from the existing Rs. 6,500 to Rs.10,000 for
domestic connections and from Rs. 15,000 to Rs.20,000 for commercial
connections, as well as upwardly revising the monthly tariff from the
existing Rs.100 to Rs.200.
This tariff will be Rs.400 for commercial connections.
The tariff should be increased by 5 per cent every five years, the bank has insisted.
Meanwhile,
Shah Technical Consultants Private Limited, Chennai, which was
appointed by the Corporation to prepare a report on the drinking water
scheme, has submitted the project report.
“If this
proposal gets the Council’s nod, we’ll forward it to the government and
subsequently to the KfW. If it is approved, the drinking water project
will move to the next step of floating a tender for the execution of the
scheme,” said a senior Corporation official.
