24×7 water supply project: First meeting of governance committee held

The Credit Facility Agreement (CFA) between Govt. of India through Department of Economic Affairs and AFD is expected to be signed in July this year.

The first meeting of Project Governance Committee for 24X7 Water Supply Project was held on Wednesday. The project is being funded by Agence Francaise De Development (AFD) and the European Union and Chandigarh is expected to get the first installment of loan for the water project by December this year.

The meeting was held under the chairmanship of Manoj Parida, Adviser to the Administrator, UT, Chandigarh, on Wednesday, wherein the dignitaries from AFD and European Union were present through online video conferencing. The chairman welcomed the participants and appreciated the understanding of AFD and European Union for the need of 24X7 Water Supply System in the city for sustainable environment and energy efficiency, as well as to improve the quality of life of citizens.

Bruno Bosle, country director of AFD India expressed his delight to be a partner in the strategic growth of city and particularly mentioned the impact of Gender Action Plan Component of the project for women empowerment in the city.

Daniel Hachez, Head of Cooperation, Bangkok EU mentioned the years-old relationship with Europe and Chandigarh and expressed his gladness to be a part of the financing of this project as a grant, particularly financing of long term technical assistance (LTTA), capacity building, Gender Action Plan and installation of Smart Water Meters for lower-income group and economically weaker section of the city.

KK Yadav, Commissioner, Municipal Corporation of Chandigarh gave a detailed presentation on the scope of the project, procurement plan, terms of the contract and other components. The committee reviewed all the documents and the same were approved by the chairman for submitting to AFD and Govt. of India for their approval. The Credit Facility Agreement (CFA) between Govt. of India through Department of Economic Affairs and AFD is expected to be signed in July this year. After the signing of the Credit Facility Agreement (CFA), an agreement is expected to be signed between AFD and Municipal Corporation, Chandigarh in the month of September, 2021 and the first installment of loan is expected in the month of December, 2021.

The chairman directed that besides completing all the formalities, the preparation of tender documents and hiring of LTTA should be done simultaneously to speed up the start of work.

24X7 Water Supply Project

# The French development Bank Agence Française de Dèveloppement (AFD) has already approved a loan of Rs 400 crore for the water project to Chandigarh.

# The city will have to start paying interest only after five years. AFD will be releasing Rs 43 crore by December this year. After five years, operation and maintenance will be carried out by Municipal Corporation for 15 years.

# Several MC councillors said that owing to the hefty loans that the city has undertaken, water tariffs will be hiked every year.

# Chandigarh residents are already facing the heat a 200 per cent increase in water tariff rates.

# The European Union had also recently approved a grant of 11 million Euros (approximately Rs 90 crore) to Chandigarh for water. This amount is apart from the loan of Rs 400 crore.

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