Jamshedpur, Oct. 13: Jamshedpur Utilities and Services Company (Jusco), a subsidiary of Tata Steel, will, for the first time, make its presence felt beyond the steel city.

Jusco, along with France-based Veolia Water India, will now be entrusted with the operation and maintenance of the water supply system at Haldia in East Midnapore district of West Bengal.

Last week, Jusco signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Haldia Development Authority (HDA).

While Jusco officials remained tightlipped, the chairman of HDA and the member of Parliament from Tamluk, Laxman Seth, while confirming the development to The Telegraph, said the MoU would be sent to the state government for approval and work on the project will commence by the end of the year.

Seth further said Jusco has been given the authority to augment the capacity of the water supply. He also added that the details of project costs would be furnished after the government approval.

According to the provisions of the tender (26/HDA/EC/2004-05), Jusco and Veolia Water India will work as consultants in the designing the blueprint of laying and distributing the lines in various command areas of the Haldia Municipality.

According to the tender, the consultants will undertake a physical survey of the command areas, in association with the representatives of the Haldia Municipality and the HDA.

The tender further states that the existing water supply lines at Geonkhali will continue to be the source of water.

Besides, Jusco, along with its partner, will take up the responsibility of providing the total requirement of drinking water and also design necessary infrastructure like reinforced cement concrete, overhead tanks, pump house, pipelines, rising mains etc., including the network balance.

Some salient points of the tender include preparation of the master plan of the command area indicating the distribution pipe lines, specials, valves etc. for the Haldia Municipality and a present and future population census with a vision of the logistics of water supply till 2030. Moreover, Jusco will conduct an area survey at block levels.

As of now, Jamshedpur receives 22 million gallons of raw water, 16 million gallons of clarified water and 35 million gallons of potable drinking water per day to 22 industrial houses, 250 commercial establishments and over 35,000 households.

On December 21, 2004, Jusco and Veolia Water India, a wholly owned subsidiary of Veolia Water Africa-Middle East-India, had signed a joint agreement to build a strong partnership aiming at developing water services in India.