Pact signed for water supply scheme

Kochi: The Kerala Water Authority has formally entered into an agreement with Hudco for a Rs 135-crore water supply project for Kochi that will be funded by the latter. The project is expected to improve the main water supply system of the Cochin Corporation.

The project will be completed in 15 months. "This line augmentation will improve the whole drinking water supply system in Cochin Corporation areas. Apart from supplying 10 mld of water to Vypeen and 25 mld to West Kochi, the new pipelines will bring to the Kochi city 73 mld of water from Aluva," Mathew Joseph, executive engineer of the project, told domain-B.

He said laying of pipes from the Samskara junction to Palluruthy will begin in March 2002. Tenders have been finalised for the work, which is expected to begin soon. The work was delayed as the owners of the lands acquired for the project staged protests, demanding more compensation from the state government.

The problem was later sorted out with the government offering 40 per cent appreciation in land value as compensation and 12 per cent as interest on the pending payment to the landowners. The scheme, initially expected to cost Rs 58.50 crore, will now cost Rs 136 crore, according to recent estimates. The project, started in 1995, was to be completed in two years' time.