Mega drinking water project to start after Puja in Siliguri

Siliguri: Finally, the much awaited mega drinking water project for 47 wards in Siliguri is going to start after Durga Puja. The tender process has been completed. On September 1, the project was approved by AMRUT Directorate, department of Urban Development and Municipal Affairs (UD&MA).

The project will take place under the supervision of Siliguri Municipal Corporation (SMC). Gautam Deb, Mayor of SMC said this at a news conference on Monday at SMC office.

“For the first time, the SMC has undertaken such a mega project. We got approval on September 1. There is some documention work to be done which will take around 10 days. Thereafter, we will be given the work order. We will start the work after Durga Puja,” said the Mayor. The drinking water scheme will have a capacity of 135 million litres per day (MLD). This will augment the present drinking water supply that is in deficit. The project will be set up at Gajoldoba. The entire project cost is Rs 511.08 crore of which, first phase work will be conducted with Rs 204 crore. It is learnt that first, the Public Health Engineering prepared Detailed Project Report on June 20, 2022 but the tender got cancelled twice due to various reasons. Finally, a company from Chennai has given the tender.

In this project the financial shares are 62 per cent from state, 5 per cent from Urban Local Body and 33 per cent Central share. At present, drinking water is supplied from the water treatment plant at Fulbari. The present demand is 70 MLD for a population of around 10 lakh, while the supply is 55 MLD.

The project is to be completed in 18 months with 3 months trial run.