Date:20/03/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/03/20/stories/2008032058210300.htm

Andhra Pradesh - Visakhapatnam

An uphill task for GVMC

Staff Reporter

It costs Rs. 5.92 crores for maintaining just the fourth phase of the underground drainage system

Workers filling the dug-up roads.

VISAKHAPATNAM: Apart from the capital expenditure for underground drainage (UGD) in the city, maintenance will cast a heavy responsibility on the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation.

The Central and the State Governments meet 70 per cent of the capital expenditure, with 30 per cent contribution from the GVMC for the ongoing Phase IV exercise, which is estimated to cost Rs.244.4 crores.

Earlier, for meeting the capital expenditure for UGD, contributions from house owners were collected. From Rs.3,000, it had been gradually reduced to Rs.500 and, finally, done away with.

But, residents may have to pay user charges for maintenance of the UGD system. Besides, corporation officials want owners to get the outlet from their houses to the drainage network connected once the system is in place. Some 10,000 households in the second and third phases still remain to be connected.

As of now, the corporation is incurring an expenditure of Rs.1.74 crores a year on maintaining the 25 mld sewage treatment plant at Appughar and the 160 km sewer network and UGD staff salaries.

For Phase I, comprising 1,600 household connections completed in 1981, and Phase III, with 13,000 household connections, an STP is under construction at the Sewage Farm in the One Town area at a cost of Rs.37.08 crores. Expected to be completed by June 2009, it will have a capacity to treat 38 mld and is projected to serve the needs up to 2038. The maintenance cost is estimated at Rs.1.3 crores a year.

Under Phase IV, a total of four STPs are proposed with a total capacity of 171 mld and the maintenance cost for the phase is Rs.5.92 crores. Some Rs.10 crores is required for the total maintenance up to Phase IV.

In Hyderabad, 30 per cent of the water tax is being collected as user charges. In Vijayawada, capital contribution is collected besides user charges. In Visakhapatnam, a proposal to collect a nominal amount of Rs.20 for a household is proposed once the system is in place, according to sources. Otherwise, it will be difficult to maintain the UGD, says an official.

Apart from the ongoing fourth phase, proposals for Gajuwaka are under consideration with the Central Government and a detailed project report is being readied for the 32 villages merged in the corporation. Each phase when completed will simultaneously add to the maintenance cost.