VIBHA VERMA
vibha@herald-goa.com
Panjimites will not have to suffer water crisis in near future as Imagine Panjim Smart City Development Ltd (IPSCDL) is on a mission to ensure 24X7 water supply in the capital. Even as the Goa government is yet to assign the project to a company, the latter has already conceptualised to ensure the capital city is not left parched.
“As far as Panjim is concerned, the data reveals that 135 Litres Per Capita Per Day (LPCD) is the national average whereas Panjim has 310 LPCD, which means practically there is no dearth of water. However, there are people dependent on tankers and those who are not getting adequate supply of water because the distribution of water is improper. So there is an issue of something called non revenue water (NRW) and we envisage as a part of Smart City to bridge this gap,” Swayandipta Pal Choudhuri, IPSCDL) Managing Director and CEO said.
Once appointed to take up the task, Imagine Panjim will then go in for an operator that will actually carry out its implementation; the work which would be directly monitored by the government and the company.
Choudhuri claimed that Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar is envisaging performance-based contract where based on milestones, an operative has to be brought in and they are going to evaluate all the mechanism. “The entire supply will be maintained and managed by performance based contract. It could be even a government agency but purely on performance based… There is something called as Service Level Agreement, if he (operator) surpasses the benchmarks, it gets incentivised. However, if it doesn’t, then there is penalty,” he added.
While the project will not only ensure even supply of water and containing its wastage, Choudhuri clarified that the consumers need not worry about the billing. “There will be billing efficiency, installation of smart meters and better control of water usage/consumption. There would also be no pilferage of water. The water bill will not surge with the upcoming concept, I assure the people,” he said claiming that with the current system of water supply for short duration on a daily basis, people tend to store water which usually gets wasted.
The system, he said, will plug in the leakages witnessed in the current scenario. “Our endeavour is at top priority under the city’s development programme,” Choudhuri commented, claiming that it will report to the parent department Public Works Department (PWD) on its activities, after it is given a go-ahead from the government on taking up the project.
