Continuous Water Supply for Mangalore

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangalore, Nov 11: Mangalore City Corporation (MCC) is willing to partner with Karnataka Urban Infrastructure Development and Finance Corporation (KUIDFC) to supply the residents of Mangalore with water for 24X7 hours. 

KUIDFC’s 24X7 water supply scheme, which has already been implemented with success in Hubli, Dharwad, Gulbarga, and Belgaum, was minutely examined and discussed during a one-day meeting held at the MCC Council Hall on Nov 11, Wednesday. Aravind Srivastav, the managing director of KUIDFC; V Ponnuraj, the deputy commissioner; Mayor Shankar Bhat; MLA N Yogish Bhat; Commissioner K N Vijayprakash; Deputy Mayor Rajani Dugganna; and Karnataka Urban Development and Coastal Environment Management Project (KUDCEMP) Project Director J R Lobo were also present. 

Rakesh Bangera, the representative of CRISIL Infrastructure Advisory, presented the plan and said that the project requires a budget of Rs 75 crore for successful implementation. He said: “The strength of the staff needs to be raised from 120 to 150. Also, under the private-public partnership (PPP) model, the water tariff will be raised by 10 percent every 5 years," said Bangera. 

When councillors Mariamma Thomas and Harish Surathkal wanted to know about the sources of water, District Commissioner V Ponnuraj said that the newly vented dam as well as the dam at Thumbe, which will be enlarged soon, will provide ample water. Besides, the Shambhur AMR project has agreed to store water only when water is in surplus. 

Syed Ilias Pasha, the superintending engineer (water supply) of KUDCEMP, and Srivastav said that, currently Mangalore is losing 40 percent water due to leakages alone. Pasha said that if the leakages are blocked permanently, around 9 lakh people can be supplied with water from the existing resources alone. 

In response to a query on the requirement of electricity for this scheme, Srivastav said that water would be supplied via gravitational force; and for this purpose, the city would be divided into hydraulic zones.