Drinking Water Project Takes off after 8 Years.

The work of new drinking water project for Burla township, which was announced eight years back, finally began on Sunday. Delay in transferring the land to Public Health and Engineering Department (PHED) had stalled the execution of the project.

The 7.62-acre land near Sambalpur University, where the project will come up, belonged to Main Dam Division. The land was handed over to the PHED on Saturday and work on the soil testing began on Sunday. The tender committee has selected the lowest bidder for the project.

The drinking water project will have an installed capacity of six million litre per day (MLD) and will be constructed at an estimated cost of Rs. 8.62 crore. The budget also includes construction of filtration plant. Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL), which was approached to fund the project, has released Rs. 3.5 crore in the first phase under its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities.

PHED SDO, Burla, Sukumar Sarkar said the boundary wall of the project will be constructed at the earliest. The project was conceptualised after assessing the status of supply and demand of water in the town. At present, 4.5 MLD of drinking water is supplied to Burla NAC area though the demand is far more, he added.


THE NEW INDIAN EXPRESS