The Centre has accorded sanction for the third phase of the Jalanidhi rural water supply scheme being implemented in the State with full people’s participation.
The ₹1,007 crore project submitted by the State government has been approved and forwarded to the World Bank by the Economic Affairs division under the Ministry of Finance, an official statement said here .
Funds
The World Bank Assistance for the project is to the tune of ₹645 crore, State share ₹191 crore, panchayats’ share ₹121 crore and the beneficiaries’ contribution is ₹50 crore.
The State government had approached the Central government to complete two mega drinking water projects and three other water supply schemes in panchayats which could not be completed in the second phase of Jalanidhi as there was a fall in the loan amount received following the differences in the dollar-rupee exchange rates.
Apart from these projects, in the third phase, the government is planning to take drinking water to 50 more panchayats utilising water from the Kerala Water Authority.
The project also intends to take up sanitation works in selected panchayats and to ensure the quality of drinking water.
The second phase of Jalanidhi rural water supply project is progressing well under the leadership of Kerala Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Agency.
Second phase
Over 75% of the projects would have been completed by December 2018, when the second phase ends.
About 5.5 lakh people have so far been able to access drinking water through the project.
When the second phase is completed in December 2018, the total number of people with access to safe drinking water would become 11.5 lakh while another 3.7 lakh people would have got access to sanitation facilities.
