Agra`s potable water project to be complete by 2016

Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh government has set December 2016 as the final deadline for completion of the ambitious `Ganga Jal` project for supply of potable water in Agra, officials said on Thursday.

The project, funded by Japan International Co-operation Agency (Jica) would, after completion, treat the Yamuna water for consumption as drinking water in the Taj city that is battling acute water shortage. Officials said the head regulator of the project to ingest 150 cusec water from upper Ganga canal has already been constructed and the remaining 5 percent work on the settling tank would be completed by the end of 2014. Jica is giving 85 percent of the cost as debt, while the remaining 15 percent is being borne by the state government. Officials told a news agency that girder casting and checking of eight wells in the project was almost 70 percent complete and the remaining work will be completed by March 2014. The work on the treatment plant will also be complete in 2013. Special secretary (urban development) SP Singh informed that to enhance the capacity of the the water treatment plant II at Sikandra, a 144 mld plant was under construction. "To send the `bad water` from the treatment plant to Yamuna river, a 1,000 mm diameter and 1.8 km long pipeline is proposed, while work on the 1 km long drain pipe, whose alignment is parallel to the Kailash temple road will be completed by end of this month," Singh informed. He said Rs 355.71 crore has been spent on the project so far. The revised cost of the project, based on the surveys, investigations, designs and engineering are now estimated at Rs 2,887.92 crore, for which consent of the government of India has been procured. IANS