From Our Special Correspondent

Daijiworld Media Network

Bengaluru, May 25: The ambitious 24x7 piped drinking water supply scheme for the Hubballi-Dharwad Municipal Corporation (HDMC) will be getting a grant of $ 100 million from the World Bank.

The Karnataka Urban Water Supply Modernisation Project (KUWSMP) is aimed at meeting the drinking water needs of the people of Hubballi-Dharwad Municipal Corporation, the second largest urban centre in the State.

The key representatives of theKarnataka Government, the Centre and the World Bank have signed an agreement for the implementation of the project.The project would help bring clean water to one million citizens of Hubballi-Dharwad Municipal Corporation (HDMC), including 160,000 people who live in slums and currently depend upon public stand posts or private vendors for water, according to a release from the Bank.

The World Bank has in the past aided the State Government to implement the pilot project in a few wards of HDMC.

“This project will support the Government of Karnataka’s efforts to provide clean water on a continuous basis and scale up the 24x7 water service to cover all parts of the twin cities of Hubballi-Dharwad,” said Raj Kumar, Joint Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance.

Karnataka Urban Infrastructure Development Finance Corporation (KUIDFC), Managing Director V Ponnuraj has signed the agreement on behalf of the State Government.
The HDMC has hired a professional water supply operating company to help make the necessary improvements to its water supply system and to manage the refurbished system through a 12-year contract in accordance with strict performance criteria as part of the KUWSMP,The HDMC would retain ownership of the water supply assets and control of the service delivery set up.

The project will help the HDMC to set up a city-level water utility that will take over water supply operations from the professional operating company at the end of its contract period.

The civic body would control tariff-setting in accordance with guidelines laid down by the state Government, which include provisions to ensure that the water tariff for lifeline consumption (up to 18KL per month) is kept at levels that poorer households can afford.

The project would also ensure that poorer households are able to avail of the improved services by subsidizing household-level water connections, the press release said.