Rs 816 cr Jal Nirmal Project Agreement Signed
From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network
Bangalore, July 17: Representatives of World Bank, Centre and Karnataka governments signed an agreement for additional financing of Rs. 816 crore ($ 150 million) for second phase of the Karnataka Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Project (KRWSS), which is also called Jal Nirmal Project (JNP), was signed in Bangalore on Saturday.
Anup K Pujari, joint secretary, Economic Affairs of the Centre, P Ravi Kumar, principal Secretary, Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Department and Ben Eijbergen, sector coordinator, infrastructure and Lead Transport Specialist, World Bank, India, signed the project in the presence of Chief Secretary S V Ranganath.
The project would cover 12 rain-fed and arid districts of Bidar, Gulbarga, Yadgir, Raichur, Bijapur, Bagalkot, Koppal, Gadag, Haveri, Belguam, Dharwad and Uttara Kannada. The International Development Association (IDA), the soft arm of the Bank, has granted credit at a interest rate of 0.75 per cent, would be repaid in the next 50 years, including 14 years of moratorium.
The amount would be utilised in the next three-year period (2010 to 2013). The IDA would grant 85 per cent of the project cost while the State government and the community would meet the remaining cost of 15 per cent.
The first phase of Rs. 997-crore project has improved rural communities’ access to potable drinking water and sanitation services in 11 districts and the Bank team has given “satisfactory” ranking to the project, Pujari said and asked the officials to achieve “highly satisfactory” ranking from the Bank for the second phase. The State should also become “efficient borrower” by expeditiously executing the project, he said.
It benefited about 5.1 million and successfully reduced waterborne diseases in select villages. The project has taken number of households having private water supply connections from 12 per cent to 47 per cent in the project villages.
Villagers in these project areas have formed 3062 Village Water Supply and Sanitation Committees (VWSCs) comprising 42329 members that are now running water supply schemes. The VWSCs have been given water quality testing kits to check drinking water quality regularly.
The second phase of the project is expected to benefit 40 lakh people in 1600 habitations that were not covered in the first phase. Lambani population of 1.2 lakh is also being covered under the Integrated Tanda Development Programme.
Under this project, efforts would be made to supply 55 litres per capita day (LPCD) of water by designing schemes based on surface sources.
The KRWSS is part of a long-term programme of Bank support to the Government’s efforts to increase rural communities’ access to improved and sustainable drinking water and sanitation services.
The main objective of the project is to institutionalise the decentralisation of rural water supply and sanitation service delivery to gram panchayats (GPs) and user groups. The VWSCs have been empowered and enabled to make decisions, procure material, carry out construction and manage funds.
Since 1993, two participatory Bank-supported projects have helped people in 4,166 villages of 23 districts plan, build, and operate their own water supply systems.