MAPUSA
Stating that infrastructure development has not kept pace with the demand of water in Bardez, Ports Minister Michael Lobo has said plans were afoot to set up a 15 MLD water filtration plant at the Saligao plateau to take care of water requirements of Calangute constituency.
“A pipeline bringing water from Tillari has already come to Calangute. We are planning to set up a 15 MLD water filtration plant at the Pilerne-Saligao plateau which will take care of the water requirement in Calangute and Saligao. The PWD will prepare the estimates and soon tender the work,” Lobo said.
He said the Goa Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC) which has an industrial estate in Pilerne needs 3 MLD of raw water.
“The GIDC will deposit the money with the PWD which will construct a water tank on the Pilerne-Saligao plateau. We can supply 3 MLD of raw water to the GIDC and the remaining water can be filtered and supplied to Calangute and Saligao,” he said.
The Ports Minister said all the previous governments have failed to set up an adequate infrastructure to take care of water requirements in Bardez.
He said the Assonora water treatment plant was set up in the 1970s and since then there were no efforts made to augment water supply in the taluka.
“The booming construction business and the increase in population have put pressure on the existing infra. There is a huge disparity between the demand and supply of water requirement in Bardez,” he stated.
The government had already started work on setting up a 15 MLD water treatment plant that will cater to the drinking water requirement of Porvorim.
“There are plans to make at least 5 MLD of the plant operational so that it could cater to the demands of Porvorim and partially reduce pressure on the Assonora plant. We need to make some payment to the contractor and the work will be accomplished within the next three months,” Lobo said.
Porvorim currently receives water from the Assonora plant but since it falls at the tail end of the supply chain, it is often affected by water shortages.
“While the commencement of the 5 MLD water treatment plant will give a huge relief to the people of Porvorim, the balance 5 MLD of water from Assonora can be diverted to Siolim and Calangute areas,” he said.
He said there were plans to set up a 5 MLD tank with a filtration system at Assagao so that the water requirement in Siolim can be resolved to a very large extent.
“We only need to construct a new tank and the issue will be resolved,” he said.
