The Times of India 24.11.2010
Private hands may shape city's water supply system
PUNE: The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) may look at a build-operate-transfer (BOT) plan to overhaul the city's water supply system.
Private entities with adequate expertise are expected to bid for the plan. The firm will have to set up a supply system that ensures equitable water for all citizens. It will have to address leaks, pilferage and wastage of water.
Municipal commissioner Mahesh Zagade had tabled a proposal before the standing committee submitted by Tata Consultants on how to address and augment the city's water supply needs. The firm sought Rs 37 crore as fees.
The standing committee members opposed the proposal saying that there was no need to pay excessive fees to the firm and sent it back to the civic administration.
"The PMC has already conducted various surveys and appointed consultants for water supply. However, all these reports are gathering dust. The administration with the help of these old reports should ask its officers to make and execute the plan," said standing committee member Ujwal Keskar.
Chairman Arvind Shinde said that the civic administration should look for a BOT model so that the PMC will not have to invest in the project.
"The standing committee has asked the civic administration to tap the possibility of a BOT project plan which is being done. There is an immediate need to overhaul the water supply system considering the last two years' water crises," said municipal commissioner Mahesh Zagade.
"The plan includes leakage detection, repairs and water distribution. Once the BOT plan is ready, we will table it before the elected representatives for approval," said Zagade.
"Private entrepreneurs could be invited to build-operate and transfer the water supply system. We have to work on the model and ensure that the investor gets returns. The main hurdle is that water supply is not a profit-making venture and no private player will be interested in the project unless he is assured of good returns," said Zagade.
Pune gets its drinking water supply from the Khadakwasla reservoir through a closed pipeline. In addition, it lifts water from the Mutha right bank canal which is purified at the Parvati water works which is then supplied to the city.
In November 2009, then state minister for water resources Ajit Pawar had asked the civic body to appoint a professional agency which could suggest measures for augmenting the city's water supply and prevent distribution losses.
The civic body's problem is peculiar. It has no system to measure the quantity of water it receives from the state irrigation department. This means that the city's water supply system is based on approximate calculations with no exact figure of the water supply available. This information tumbled out of the details sought by civic activist Major General ( retd) SCN Jatar who had filed an application under the Right of Information (RTI) Act, 2005 recently.
In its reply to Jatar's query, the PMC has admitted that it has no system to measure the water lifted from the canal at Parvati water works. The civic body said that it will put in place a way to measure the quantum in 3-4 months. However, the ground reality is that nobody in the PMC knows exactly how much water the city receives.
