The Times of India          15.10.2013

Water meter project likely to take off

PUNE: The city's much talked about 24x7 water supply and water meter scheme may see the light of the day finally, with its pilot project making some progress. After three unsuccessful attempts, the civic body has received response from five bidders for the tender it issued to undertake the project.

The civic administration had taken an important step in May this year towards making citizens accountable for every drop of water they consume and also to measure its loss through leakages. The civic body had planned a pilot project of metered supply of water in five areas - Sahakarnagar, Rajas Society in Katraj, Vimannagar, Bhavani Peth and Nagpur Chawl. Of these, the civic body had planned to install water meters in 1,200 households each in Sahakarnagar and Rajas Society in May. The scheme was not taking off as there was no response from bidders to the tenders the civic body issued.

"The water meter providers had not responded despite a couple of deadline extensions to submit bids for the tender notice. However, after making a couple of changes in the tender provisions some companies have come forward. The bids will be opened this week," said V G Kulkarni, head of PMC's water department, while speaking to TOI.

He said that five companies including a few international companies have come forward to supply meters. A key reservation of the companies was that the first order issued by PMC was very small and that it was not technically and commercially viable for companies to participate in the bid. So the order for meters was increased.

"The administration had first given orders to install meters in two areas. Nearly 2,400 meters were required for these two areas. But considering the demand of bidders, the administration took a decision to order meters for five areas. This has increased the number of meters required to 6,000. It helped in attracting bidders for the proposal," Kulkarni said.

The other problem that meter providers had was that of carrying out pipeline work and the project's maintenance. "The administration has made a provision to allow the providers to undertake the project jointly. The group that has expertise in maintenance will work jointly with companies that will provide the meters. The agency that will bag the contract will have to carry out maintenance for five years," Kulkarni added.

The pilot project is expected to be completed in a year's time. The first data of water usage, water pressure and water leakage will be available by the end of 2014. After that, the decision to install water meters in other parts of the city - or not - will be taken.

The Union government is pressing for metered water supply in all cities that receive funds under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) to ensure that the civic bodies recover the cost of the water supply.

A few years ago, the civic administration had tried to introduce metered water supply, claiming that it would help calculate the water tax accurately. However, the PMC general body scrapped the system for domestic users and has been billing them on the basis of the annual rateable value of their properties. The domestic users had complained of faulty meters and inflated billing which had resulted in accumulation of water tax dues worth crores of rupees.

Replying on the project's fate, if the problems in billing persist, Kulkarni said, "The meters that the PMC is planning to use are advanced and sophisticated. Tampering of these meters will not be possible. Thus the possibility of consumers getting incorrect or inflated bills will reduce considerably."