Canal water project may be delayed

The much-anticipated canal water project, aimed at ensuring a 24-hour water supply to the city, is now running two years behind schedule. Funded by the World Bank, the first phase of the project was initially projected to be completed by July 2024.

However, due to multiple challenges, including delays in acquiring no-objection certificates (NOCs) from key departments, a shortage of labour, and disputes over land for constructing water tanks, the project is now expected to be completed only by July 2026.

Now officials of the Amritsar Municipal Corporation said canal water will start reaching the South Zone of the city by December this year. However, residents of the rest of the city will have to wait longer for uninterrupted access to canal water. The project had earlier received a one-year extension, pushing the completion date to July 2025. With that deadline unlikely to be met, authorities have already requested an additional year’s extension. The total estimated cost of the project stands at Rs 785 crore, with 70 per cent of the funding being provided by the World Bank.

The canal water supply project is divided into two zones, North and South, with the Jalandhar railway line serving as the dividing boundary. In the first phase, the focus has been on building a water treatment plant at Vallah, laying the required pipelines, and constructing 51 new overhead water tanks. As of now, 77 per cent of the first phase work has been completed and around 70 per cent of the total project work is done.

Pipelines have largely been laid, but NOCs from the Defence Ministry and the Public Works Department are still pending. While the NOC from the Railways has been received, the actual work of crossing railway lines for pipeline laying still needs to be executed by the Railways themselves.

A major hurdle has come in the form of local resistance at six sites where water tanks were planned. These include locations near Santanam Park (Suncity), Sant Avenue (two tanks) near the Bhadrakali Temple, in the Cantonment Area Park, and Mustafabad. Owing to objections from local residents, construction of overhead water tanks at these sites has been stopped, reducing the total number of tanks to be built from 51 to 45. Each tank takes around one to one-and-a-half years to construct, further contributing to the delay.

MC Commissioner Gurpreet Singh Aulakh said most of the NOCs from the Defence Ministry have almost been finalised and that the department is in constant touch with the Ministry of Defence. He said by December this year, a significant portion of the city will start receiving canal water, and by July next year, the entire city is expected to have access to 24-hour canal water supply.

The North Zone route of the project runs from the Vallah bypass through Ram Tirath Road to Nikka Singh Colony and Chheharta. The South Zone route starts from the UBDC and goes through Vallah, Jhabal Road, Dapai Road, and Kot Khalsa to Chheharta. Overall, 112 km of pipeline is planned under this project, out of which 85 km have been laid. The water treatment plant at Vallah has been completed.

Amritsar