Goa`s water supply project hangs fire Our Regional Bureau / Panaji September 14, 2005
The 24x7 water supply project seems to have become a distant dream as the project is still at the planning stage. About 18 months back, it was announced with much fanfare that the World Bank-supported water and sanitation programme (WSP) would be set in motion from December 2005 onwards and that water would be supplied to the four main cities 24 hours a day. The project requirements and strategies were expected to be finalised by the public works department (PWD) in March this year. After making little headway last year, the programme went through rough weather as Goa came under the President's rule and the state administration decided to wait for a popular government to make a decision. Nine months down the line, the project is still where it was in the earlier year. There seems to be some change in the areas proposed to be covered under the project. Initially, only four cities were proposed to be covered under the project Panaji, Mapusa, Margao and Ponda. The government has decided to increase the area to be covered under the project to the entire state. Confirming the decision, K P Nambiar, PWD chief engineer said, "The 24x7 water supply project is for the entire state." Explaining the hike in water tariff, Nambiar said that the proposal for increasing water tariff was still on hold and that no decision had been taken as to when the water tariff should be hiked.
