IMPHAL, October 22: The present pipelines for the water supply system in Imphal began being laid in 1960 and continued till around 1990. This is the main reason for the corroding pipes and leakages of the supply lines, PHED chief engineer H Sunil Singh told media persons.
The Public Health Engineering Department, Govt. of Manipur had organised a `Stake Holders`™ Meeting` for `Integrated Water Supply Project for Imphal planning area`™ at Hotel Imphal today.
The meeting was sponsored by Japanese International Co-operation Agency (JICA).
The chief engineer said the Integrated Water Supply Project for Imphal is a big and ambitious project estimated to be around Rs 1300 crores.
Success of the project will mean that people of Imphal area will get safe and clean water and will not face frequent water problems, he elaborated.
Completion of the project is proposed in three phases, he said.
The former UPA government had already sanctioned Rs. 29 crores in the month of March 2013 for the project and the implementing agency already selected through e-tenders, he said.
Work is likely to start soon before the end of the current year, he said.
The chief engineer continued that the 1st phase is expected to be complete within one and a half year.
The PHED has also submitted the estimated cost of Rs 320 crores for the second phase to the Urban Housing ministry, he said.
The third and last phase of the project will be taken up by the Japanese International Co-operation agency (JICA), and a Japanese team has been in the State for almost a year doing research on the areas for the construction of water systems in Imphal area.
Research work is expected to end by middle part of next year and if JICA is able to sign an agreement with the Government of India, than the project is expected to be completed by 2019 or 2020, he continued.
Once the project is completed, consumers will be provided with a water consumption meter and would have to pay according to their consumption quantity, he said.
During the meeting, a delegate of the Japanese research team Dr Kenji Takayanagi also spoke on the topic `Environment impact and mitigation measures.`™
Another delegate of the Japanese team Kotaro Kikuchi elaborated on the imposition of water tariff and its benefit while, Kikuo Matsushima, JICA, study team spoke on water meter and supplying pipe connections.