CM nod to acquire land for Kalamassery water project

KOCHI: Giving a fresh lease of life to Kerala water authority's (KWA) Rs 285-crore drinking water project at Kalamassery, a high-level committee convened by chief minister Oommen Chandy has authorized district collector M G Rajamanickam to initiate measures to acquire 15 acres owned by HMT at Kalamassery.
The project, designed by KWA almost two years ago, has been facing problems mainly due to the lack of land for constructing the plant.At a meeting held in Thiruvananthapuram on Friday, Chandy had asked the collector to take steps to secure 15 acres belonging to HMT. The project, once implemented, will provide 135 million litres of water (MLD) to the city and suburbs each day.
The plant will treat the water from the river Periyar. A 7-km-long inflow pipeline will be constructed to bring water from Eloor to the proposed plant. Water will be supplied to Eloor, Kalamassery, Thrikkakara, Maradu, Chellanam, Kumbalam and Kumbalanghi municipalities and Kochi city.
The project will be implemented in two phases, with construction activities of the plant coming under the first phase and distribution network works being worked out in the second. Phase two is included under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM).
As the Union government is slow-pedalling the JNNURM scheme, the fate of the second phase is in limbo.
WASCON, the consultancy wing of KWA, will prepare the design of the distribution network. The agency has already completed the network design within corporation limits.
Meanwhile, the water authority has started pumping 20 MLD of water from Maradu treatment plant. The original capacity of the plant, constructed under the JNNURM scheme, is 100 MLD. KWA and water resources minister had announced that the project, with its half capacity, would be commissioned as a New Year gift.