Indications are that the capital city will have to be more patient for the promised additional water supply from the Neyyar reservoir.
The way things stand for the Neyyar water supply project, envisioned as a second source of drinking water for the city, bids will have to be invited afresh for the construction of its two main components — the 120 mld water treatment plant at Neyyar and the transmission main from there to the city.
The project, which promises 100 million litres a day (mld) to the Thiruvananthapuram city region and 20 mld to Vilappil, Vilavoorkal, Maranalloor, and Malayinkeezhu panchayats, has been delayed for over two years.
The contract for laying the pipeline is expected to be awarded in six months’ time, an official of the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB), the funding agency for the pipeline component, said. “We have started the process of preparing the tender with the help of RITES. The Kerala Water Authority (KWA), with assistance from KIIFB and RITES, will go ahead with the tendering process for the pipeline component,’‘ the official said.
KIIFB recommendation
Objecting to cutting up roads for laying the pipeline over 23.8 km, KIIFB had eventually recommended micro-tunneling, a ‘trenchless’ option. The best possible alignment, incorporating tunneling and elevated layouts, will be picked for drawing the 1,422-mm transmission main from Neyyar to the ground-level storage reservoir (GLSR) of the KWA at PTP Nagar, according to KIIFB officials.
Work on the water treatment plant at Neyyar, funded under the State plan, is expected to be taken up parallelly with the work on the pipeline as per a direction issued by the State government, a senior KWA official said.
Reasons for delay
Ever since it was conceived, the project had been plagued by delays related to land disputes, the COVID-19 outbreak, and the differences of opinion between the KWA and KIIFB over the mode of drawing the pipeline. The KWA had kicked off tendering procedures for the project on June 25, 2019. But the tenders for the plant and the pipeline work had to be cancelled due to a host of issues. The original plan was to commission the water supply project in March 2021.
