Date:11/05/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/05/11/stories/2008051156650100.htm

Front Page

Second Vaigai water supply project may be over by year-end

Staff Reporter

— Photo: G. Moorthy

Progress: Pipe-laying work under way for the Second Vaigai Drinking Water Project.

MADURAI: The second Vaigai water supply project, taken up under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission Scheme, stands with 50 per cent of the work completed at its second phase. The project, costing Rs.59.316 crore, has been undertaken in a phased manner.

In the initial phase, pipe-laying work at a cost of Rs.48.87 crore for 65.4 km is nearing completion with pipes laid for 35 km. About 85 per cent of the work has been completed for the bridge that carries a double-pipe. A tank meant to reduce water pressure has also been completed.

Talking to reporters at Pannaipatti near here, on Saturday, D.J. Dinakaran, Corporation Commissioner, said that the project was half-way through and was expected to be completed by December. The project, when completed, would see the supply of drinking water going up from 75 litres a person a day to 115 litres. Under the project’s second phase, the Pannaipatti treatment plant work, taken up at a cost of Rs 5.1 crore, was nearing completion, he said.

Five overhead tanks -- one each at P and T Nagar, TWAD Colony, Maruthangulam, HMS Colony, Sundararjapuram and Villpuram -- were being constructed at a cost of Rs.13.57 crore, under the third phase of the project. New distribution lines have been laid for 32 km for the left-out places in the city.

Wards 6, 7, 8 in the city have been identified for the experimentation of pilot project of 24-hour water supply.