KOCHI: The City Corporation which is known for allowing funds to lapse and wasting public money for unsuccessful projects has added one more to the list. The much-hyped “Kochi Water” project under which the civic body proposed to sell bottled drinking water has failed to takeoff. Though the civic body allocated '2 cr for the project in the annual budget for 2015 – 2016, not even a single bottle of water has been produced.
The ‘Kochi Water’ unit at the Corporation’s Edapally zonal office, with a building and purifier facility set up at a cost of '25 lakh, remains closed. The proposal was to sell purified drinking water to city residents through Kudumbasree units at subsidized rate. According to the project proposal, an average of 48,000 litres of water will be purified and supplied every day.
Four treatment units were proposed at Edappally, Kadavanthra, Ravipuram and Fort Kochi Veli at an estimated cost of Rs. 25 lakh per unit. However, Corporation Welfare Committee chairman A.B Sabu told DC that the Fort Kochi unit had started functioning, on an experimental basis, last week. “There have been some issues with the Edappally unit which will be resolved soon and the production will start soon.”
“There is good response from the public as the packaged water is being sold at minimal cost,” he added. Meanwhile, in view of the rapid depletion in groundwater level in the city and high levels of pollution, there are apprehensions over the feasibility of the project. “No feasibility study has been conducted before implementing the project,” criticised sources at the corporation .
