PUNE: The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) will have to start the process of appointing a consultant for the 24x7 water supply project all over again since the previous advisor has decided to pull out of the project.
The slow speed of work and obstacles in the project due to the pandemic have led to the exit of the consultant.
“The process to appoint a new consultant is underway. The terms and conditions for the tenders would be approved at the administration level in the next couple of days and after that the bids will be invited. The appointment of a new consultant may be completed in around a month,” said Nandakumar Jagtap, a senior official of the water department, who is coordinating the 24X7 water supply project.
The project has not progressed as per expectations ever since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. The civic body had appointed the consultant for a fee of Rs18 crore. The new appointment is likely to take at least another month.
According to PMC officials, around 25% of the project work has been completed. Based on the time table, around 40% work should have been completed by now.
“Non-availability of labour hampered the project work. The raw material was made available at a very high cost due to the lockdown and other restrictions. It has adversely affected the ground-level work on the 24X7 water supply project,” said a PMC official.
The official added that payment of consultancy charges was to be made in different works. Some charges were given to complete the detailed project report (DPR). The remaining charges were to be given for monitoring in installments based on the progress of the project. Since project works were not taking place as per expectations, civic body had kept the payment on hold.
The consultant had the option of leaving the project due to force majeure as per a clause in the contract.
As per PMC officials, the civic body has planned the 24X7 water supply project for areas located in the municipal limits. It must be carried out for equitable water supply across the city.
The project includes construction of 103 tanks as well as laying of 1,600km pipeline network and water meters. The civic administration is expected to spend around Rs3,000 crore on the initiative.
The work to construct 83 tanks under the equitable water supply system has already been started. The tanks are located across municipal areas.
The work on building the remaining tanks is stuck due to issues such as non-availability of land.
The process of laying the pipeline and install meters has commenced. The work is being carried out across civic areas, mainly in the Peth areas and localities around Ahmednagar road, Satara road and Solapur road.
