Bhubaneswar, Feb. 28: If things go to plan, the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), National Institute of Science Education and Research (Niser) along with Sea Food Park at Deras and Info-city II in Jatni will get uninterrupted drinking water supply by the end of the year.

The housing and urban development department, which has taken up the bulk water supply project to the places under public-private-partnership mode, reviewed the progress of the work earlier this month and found almost 15 per cent of the job finished.

“We have called on the officials and reviewed the status of the water supply project. The progress is quite satisfactory and work goes at this pace, it will be complete by the end of this year. We have decided to introduce the project on December 15. We have assured the private partner of all support for timely completion of the job,” said a senior official of the housing and urban development department.

Sources said ground-level work such as construction of intake well, pump house and water treatment plant have already started and will be finished by the end of March. In the next phase, officials will conduct a survey for tree felling, shifting of electric poles and other activities for the project.

The IIT Bhubaneswar, Niser, Info-City II and surrounding areas need around 44 million litres of water every day. The government has decided to increase the availability to around 60 million litres of water for the benefit of the people. The government will spend Rs 187 crore for the project.

“There are different stakeholders and beneficiaries in the project. We had a detailed talk with all of them and are coming up with the project based on their requirements. The estimate of the water supply was done on the basis of the population in the area. It was calculated based on the revised per capita water consumption of 150 litres per day per person instead of the earlier 120 litres,” said Public Health Engineering Organisation superintending engineer C.R. Jena.

Niser Director V. Chandrasekhar, in a letter to the housing and urban development department commissioner G. Mathi Vathanan, requested the officials for early completion of the project since the institute had shifted completely to its new campus in Jatni where water supply is a major concern. 

The IIT Bhubaneswar is not in much of a problem because it has been partially shifted to its permanent campus at Argul.