Pan-city 24X7 water supply: Project cost up, to impact residents, Chandigarh MC
Sandeep Rana
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, April 25
With the cost of the pan-city 24X7 water supply project increasing, residents and the Municipal Corporation will have to shell out more.
The project cost has increased from Rs440 crore to Rs591.59 crore. Chandigarh Smart City Limited (CSCL) will contribute an already committed Rs60 crore while the MC will now have to pay Rs22 crore.
“About Rs97 crore will be a grant from the European Union. The remaining amount (about Rs412 crore) will come as a loan from a French firm, Agence Française de Développement (AFD),” said NP Sharma, General Manager, CSCL.
It means that not only the civic body, but residents too will have to pay more.
The Rs440 crore project cost was approved in the MC House meeting on November 26, 2019. Of this, an estimated Rs380 crore was passed as a loan from a French firm while Rs60 crore was to be paid by the CSCL.
The Rs380-crore loan was approved to be paid by the consumers through increased monthly water tariff to be effective from 2027 onwards. The loan repayment tenure was fixed at 15 years with a six-year moratorium.
But with the loan amount going up from Rs380 crore to Rs412 crore, the residents will also have to pay more in the form of monthly water tariff from 2027 onwards. The agenda regarding the whole issue is being brought in the MC House meeting on April 28 for information and approval.
It will be a big blow to the city residents after a three-fold water tariff hike implemented last year.
“It is a fraud. They are only wasting the public money.
There is no need for such service, which burns a hole in the common man’s pocket. Only pipelines need to be changed,” said Baljinder Singh Bittu, chairman, FOSWAC, an umbrella body of city RWAs.
Sharma, however, claimed that the residents will not have to bear any extra burden. He said the project cost increased due to the revised estimates of water pipelines, water treatment, the Kajauli waterworks and taxes.
