Government earmarks 46,675 crore: Ministers

Amaravati: The State government has set a goal to install water tap connections at every house in the State at an estimated cost of Rs 46,675 crore under the Water Grid project.

It has designed water grid project for the next 30 years. Ministers Peddireddy Ramchandra Reddy, Buggana Rajendranath Reddy, Botcha Satyanarayana, Anil Kumar Yadav and other top officials held a review meeting here on Friday on the water grid project in the State.

The project is aimed at providing surface water in the districts including Anantapur, Chittoor, Srikakulam, Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram and others depending on groundwater levels. The project will be launched in the three districts in North Andhra in the first phase.

Groundwater in the Godavari districts is getting polluted due to aquaculture. Hence, the government is preparing a plan to supply water through pipelines in these districts.

Kadapa and Nellore districts face severe shortage of drinking water in summer season. Supply of water through tankers has gone up significantly in Kadapa, Chittoor, Nellore, Anantapur, and Prakasam districts. The habitations that receive water through tankers has increased from 591in 2011 to 6,267 in 2019.

The government will invest Rs 46,675 crore in the water grid project in two installments. The allocations will be Rs 37,475 crore and Rs 9,200 crore for the first and second installments respectively. Drinking water will be supplied to 46,982 rural habitations and 99 urban habitations.

The State government will utilise a loan of Rs 2,500 crore provided by the Asian Development Bank for the project. About 110 urban local bodies in the State will receive 1418.49 MLDs of water. Water from reservoirs will be supplied through pipelines to these areas.

Rayalaseema region is witnessing dry borewells. But with the implementation of water grid project, water from reservoirs will be supplied in the region. The government has decided to use Jal Jeevan and MGNREGS schemes for completion of the project.