Chandrababu Naidu to launch ambitious Jala Dhaara scheme soon

Vijayawada: The State government will launch the ambitious drinking water supply project ‘Jala Dhaara’ at a cost of Rs 22,300 crore with an aim of supplying drinking water to households by pipelines in 48,363 village panchayats of the Andhra Pradesh. 

Tenders process will be completed in 10 districts for starting the pipeline works in the State. The mega water grid project will resolve the long pending problem being faced by lakhs of families in over 48,000 village panchayats.

Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu will launch the drinking water project works very soon. Minister for IT and Panchayat Raj, Nara Lokesh planned the project with an objective to supply protected drinking water to every household. Lokesh is regularly monitoring the progress of the Jala Dhaara scheme designs with a view to launch the supply of water by summer in 2019.

The State government sanctioned funds for the mega project and also taking loans from the Asian Development Bank and other nationalised banks. The estimated cost of the Water Grid is Rs 22,300 crore.

Lokesh in a press release on Sunday, said that he had designed the drinking water scheme to eradicate the drinking water problem forever in the village panchayats.

Tenders have been finalised in 10 districts and tenders are yet to be called in the three districts of Chittoor, East Godavari and Srikakulam. The project is divided into three zones based on water availability. Initially, the focus will be on Krishna, East Godavari, West Godavari, Srikakulam, Vizianagaram and Visakhapatnam districts where water availability is more compared to other districts.

As per the design, drinking water will be drawn from the projects and supplied to the villages through the pipelines. The designs were made to meet the drinking water requirements of the villagers up to 2040 and each person should get at least 70 litres of water per day.

It is estimated that 26.27 tmcft of water is required for the water grid. Lokesh said efforts were on to supply the drinking water in some villages by Sankranti festival next year and thanked the officials, experts and staff for their efforts to fulfill his dream under the Jala Dhaara scheme.

Andhra Pradesh Drinking Water Supply Corporation Managing Director Bharat Gupta said the water pipelines will be laid without causing inconvenience to the people in the villages. He said perfect plan was designed to supply drinking water to the people living in over 48,000 villages in the State.