BWSSB taps into city lakes to slake thirst

BWSSB taps into city lakes to slake thirst
TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Bangalore: Looking ahead to slake the thirst of a parched Bangalore, the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) is moving towards Bangalore’s valleys for sources. A BWSSB blueprint on a four-phase project to recycle water from the city’s lakes was presented to chief minister B S Yeddyurappa on Tuesday during a review meeting of projects taken up by Bangalore’s civic agencies.
The first phase — the Vrishabhavathi valley scheme — has been approved under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JN-NURM). Under the project, water will be taken from Vrishabhavathi, treated, made potable and let into the TG Halli reservoir and pumped into the city. The Rs-473 crore project is estimated to yield 135 MLD.
The second project — tapping sources in Nagawara, Kalkere, Bellandur, Kengeri and K R Pura — is tipped to yield 270 MLD. The third and fourth projects — covering the Koramangala and Challaghatta valleys, apart from Agaram, Puttenahalli and other lakes — are expected to yield 520 MLD. The total yield will be 925 MLD, at a combined budget of Rs 2,533 crore. The BWSSB expects the projects to address the demandsupply gap in Bangalore. It’s estimated that the shortfall in supply in BBMP areas will increase from the present 349 MLD to 702 MLD in 2015.
The projects are expected to reduce power costs as well as exploitation of groundwater resources. Speaking to reporters after the meeting attended by heads and senior officials of more than 10 civic agencies, Yeddyurappa said a project to develop 17 lakes at a cost of Rs 189 crore, under JN-NURM, has also been cleared. Two new elevated corridors to ease traffic bottlenecks
Bangalore: The government has initiated two corridors in Bangalore to ease traffic bottlenecks. This was announced during a review meeting of the projects taken up by key civic agencies of Bangalore, attended by chief minister B S Yeddyurappa, on Tuesday.
A north-south elevated corridor from Hebbal to Madivala (16 km) and from Kodihalli to Kundanahalli (12 km) were proposed. IEDB made the proposal for the N-S corridor under the Swiss Challenge Method. The possibilities of having the corridor on two levels (rail over road) are also being explored.
PRR back with BDA
The government formally handed over work on the Peripheral Ring Road (PRR) to the BDA. The move to entrust the project to the NHAI was reconsidered after “differences’’ between BDA and NHAI.
The agencies had differences on components like road width. According to sources, NHAI stuck to its stand that it can’t build the road beyond a 60-metre width while the original commitment was on 100 metres.
The CM was briefed on projects taken up by agencies including BBMP, BMRDA, KHB, BMTC, BMRCL and the police. Measures to expedite work on Namma Metro were also discussed. Similar review meetings will be held every second Saturday of the month. Yeddyurappa said the government will also hold an interactive session with industrial leaders, NGOs and opinion-makers on drafting a vision statement for Bangalore on June 28 at the IISc.
On the anvil
BWSSB proposes Rs 2,533 crore project on recycled water Two road corridors cleared for the city PRR to be built by BDA; global tenders floated 4,814 acres notified for BDA’s Kempegowda Layout in 12 villages BDA’s 92,000 flats for EWS at a cost of Rs 3 lakh each 326 acres acquired for the EWS flats