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.
