Minister says demand can be met only after all the projects are completed.
The city’s water woes are set to move from bad to worse.
Minister of Bangalore Water Supply and Sewage Board (BWSSB), Katta Subramanya Naidu, made it clear on Tuesday that there was no hope for any immediate end to water woes and the city would have to wait till 2011-end to slake its thirst completely.
He said that the proposed hike in water tariff would be announced within the next three days after the issue was discussed with the chief minister.
“At present, there is a demand for 1,150 million litres per day (mld), and we are able to supply 850mld. We are spending Rs100 crore every month to supply water, and are accruing a loss of Rs52 crore. We cannot bear losses continuously, hence the inevitable tariff hike,” Naidu said.
The minister said that BWSSB was currently spending Rs33 to supply one kilo litre of water, but was charging customers two slabs of Rs9 and Rs15 over the last 10 years, despite the rise in supply costs.
Naidu said that 25% of the work was completed on the Rs3,200 crore Torekadanahalli water storage project, and only after the completion of the second phase of fourth stage of the Cauvery water project and other related projects would the water shortage in the city cease to exist.
“The BWSSB has taken up works worth Rs600 crore. Last year, we installed 854km of new pipelines, and plugged leaks and collected Rs78 crore as water arrears from people this year,” Naidu said.
He added that for the first time ever, the BWSSB was installing a 2mw solar power plant at Suryanagar II Stage Layout. “The Rs28 crore project will be spread over 10 acres. Power generated here will be used for our KHB housing project, and any excess power will be transferred to the state grid. We also plan to use lake water at this Suryanagar layout. We have identified four lakes for the purpose and a committee is working out the modalities,” Naidu said.
He said that the Karnataka Slum Clearance Board would construct 3,196 houses under JNNURM for slum dwellers in Challaghatta, Shivanagara, Bheemanakuppe, Hakki Pikki Colony, Kudlu, Bheemashakthinagar, Chikabommasandra and other places.
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