Rajshahi Correspondent:

Hundred percent people of Rajshahi city and its adjacent municipalities will come under the supply of drinkable water as Rajshahi Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (RWASA) is implementing a project to this end.

The water treatment project will be completed by 2027 with the main thrust of ensuring water quality and meeting the water deficit. Upon successful implementation of the project, 20 crore liters of purified water will be supplied to the targeted beneficiaries every day.

The drinkable water will be supplied to the people of Rajshahi city and its surrounding Naohata and Katakhali pourashava.

RWASA Chief Engineer Parvez Mamud said the treatment plant will be installed at Sarangpur area adjacent to the Padma River under Godagari upazila about 26 kilometers off the Rajshahi city to clean and purify the river water.

A delegation of the project implementing Chinese company has been working at the site.

Engineer Mamud said the Hunan Construction Engineering Group has been implementing the Taka 4,062-crore project. So far, 20 percent of the scheduled works were completed.

Under the project, 53-kilometer main pipelines, 48-kilometer primary and secondary distribution pipelines, conventional water treatment plant, treated water transmission main and booster pump stations and an intake will be constructed.

Chief Engineer Mamud said daily water demand in the city is around 130 MLD at present and 98.037 MLD waters are being extracted from underground through pumps, while nine MLD from surface water, totalling 107.04 MLD water to meet the demands.

He said they are supplying 10.70 crore liters of water daily to over 6.44 lakh people through 110 production pumps and 859-kilometer pipeline network.

Required lands were acquired through the district administration for implementing the project.

As a whole, the project, upon its successful implementation, will contribute a lot towards enhancing supply of surface water through decreasing the dependence on underground water.

Another project styled “Water Supply System Rehabilitation in Rajshahi City Project” is also being implemented aimed at improving the life standard of the people through supplying safe water in the interim period.

RWASA Managing Director Zakir Hossain said the Sharengpur site has been selected after assessing its water availability round the year. Prior to the selection, Institute of Water Modeling (IWM) has conducted a feasibility study.

There will be no water deficit in the city when the project will be implemented. After meeting the water demands in the city, the RWASA will be able to supply drinkable water to the adjacent two pourashavas.

RWASA is always committed to maintain integrity in all its service delivery activities particularly water supply for betterment of the service recipients.

Managing Director Zakir Hossain said they are persistently working with the vision of establishing a sustainable and smart water management system through ensuring transparency, accountability and participation of all stakeholders.

He said there is a need for enhancing water tariff for proper adjustment between earning and expenditure. As an autonomous and state-owned entity, the RWASA has to be self-dependent through increasing revenue earning.

Zakir Hossain mentioned that they earned revenues worth Taka 15.32 crore till June last year against the annual expenditure of Taka 20.67 crore.

He, however, said they have no intention to increase financial pressure on the clients in general but they have to reduce the existing gap between the earning and expenditure of RWASA.

Hossain sought cooperation of the city dwellers to mitigate the problem as they have a vital role towards proper functioning of the water supplying body.