The Maradu water treatment plant project is all set to get a fresh
lease of life as the final roadblock in completing the project is likely
to be cleared by this month.

The Rs  201-crore water treatment
plant project was mooted as a solution to the severe potable water
crisis of Kochi and the suburbs.

However, uncertainty was looming
large over the project owing to the delay in getting sanction from the
the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI)   for cutting the
National Highway-47 for laying pipeline. But, it is learnt that NHAI had
finally given its nod for road cutting.

“The official sanction
from NHAI Delhi office had already been dispatched to the Chennai
office, from where the final nod will be given. We are expecting the
order within 15 days and the NHAI had already communicated with us in
this regard. Once the order is received, we will be able to carry out
the road cutting at the nearly 5-km stretch between Aroor to the Nettoor
area, where the plant is situated. The restoration works will also be
carried out once the pipe laying is completed,” said at op official with
Kerala Water Authority, which is implementing the project.

As per
theproject, proposed under the Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission
(JNNURM), water will be drawn from Pazhoorkkadavu in Muvattuppuzha river
and will be brought to the Maradu Water Treatment Plant. It has a
capacity to recycle 100 million litres of water a day (mld) and the
recycled water will be supplied mainly to West Kochi area, which is
reeling under acute water shortage.

The project which was
initiated in 2007 came to a standstill for nearly one-and-a-half year
following the stiff opposition raised by local bodies in Piravom against
cutting the Nadakkavu-Koothattukulam Road for laying the pipes.

Though
the issue was sorted out last year and KWA completed 75 per cent of the
pipe laying work between Pazhoor and Aarakkunam Road, it again came to a
standstill owing to the norms  set by  NHAI that the tarred road cannot
be dug or cut unless an exemption is obtained from the Centre.