The JICA was initially reluctant to sponsor the project, conceived in 1988, but it gave its green signal last year. The Japanese agency will fund 90 per cent of the project, while the remaining 10 per cent has to be borne by the State government with financial assistance from the Union Urban Development Ministry.
“We have submitted a detailed project report to the Centre for funding last December,” said Chief Engineer Haobam Sunil of Manipur’s Public Health Engineering Department (PHED), the State-run water supply agency. “The estimated cost of the project is Rs 1,287.25 crore, which is four times the State Budget.” Simplex Infrastructure, a construction company, will take up the project with a target to complete it by 2021.
The Greater Imphal area, measuring just 65 sq km with a population of around 6 lakh, have been using just about 81 million litres of water daily (MLD) against the requirement of 114 million litres every day.
A major reason for the water shortage in the town is the limited functioning of the existing 19 water treatment plants, which were set up around 40 year ago. The distribution network, which was laid for a limited area, has also corroded heavily. “Hence it needed reconstruction,” Sunil added. Once the JICA-funded project is completed, somehow it can fill up the supply-demand gap till 2031 by giving 149 MLD of water against the demand of 152 MLD of water.
Kikuo Matsushima, Deputy Team leader of JICA, said that water meters will be installed with every connections.
The Japanese official also informed The Assam Tribune on the sideline of the meeting that a bigger Rs 1,427-crore project is being taken up in Guwahati with a capacity of 191 MLD of water.
Source: Assam Tribune
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