Team Herald
PANJIM: The English proverb ‘better late than never’ is the most apt to describe the ongoing water pipeline replacement work in the capital with 90 percent of the works completed and the rest of the work expected to be completed by December this year.
Under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), Government in 2014 had taken up setting up of 27 MLD (million litres per day) capacity water treatment plant and replacement of water pipelines in Panjim. Once the project costing Rs 85 crore is complete then the water supply capacity to the city will increase.
Public Works Department (PWD) Executive Engineer Nivruti Parsekar said, “Under the JNNURM Scheme 90 percent of the city’s major pipelines has been replaced. The remaining will be taken up post monsoon and completed by December.” He said due to corrosion the pipelines are vulnerable to come in contact with sewage and drainage causing the possibility of water being contaminated.
Under the JNNURM, the department has taken up replacement of the water supply pipelines in the city from the current asbestos cement (AC), poly vinyl chloride (PVC) and others to High Density Polyethylene (HDPE).
PWD Assistant Engineer Prashant Gaude informed that with more than 12,000 water supply connections, Panjim is covered 95 percent by service lines. PWD supplies water to the citizens of the capital city through the 72 kms pipeline network laid out across the city. Of which nearly 65 kms of pipeline has been replaced.
Panjim receives its water supply from the OPA water supply scheme located in Khandepar which caters to the Tiswadi and Ponda talukas.
Government of India in 2005 had launched the JNNURM to augment the capacity building of urban local bodies by implementing the projects and reforms across the selected cities in India. Panjim has been a part of the project and the government has been undertaking some major water resource and supply works under the JNNURM.
