GUWAHATI: A water pipe of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) assisted water supply project burst on Sunday, February 9, in Guwahati.
The incident took place near the Judges’ Field in the city; however, no casualties were reported due to the incident. As per the Guwahati Jal Board officials, they had issued a notification informing locals about the water testing near the area.
Paul Baruah, Managaing Director, Guwahati Jal Board, visited and inspected the site on Monday along with other JICA officials. Talking to G Plus Baruah said, “We were conducting testing of the water pressure of the water pipeline when it burst. Now we will initiate the repair works of the pipeline.”
Officials informed that currently house service connections are being provided by the Jal Board. They said that 1300 house service connections are being provided in the Maligaon and Uzan Bazar area and 1000 houses have already been connected with the main pipeline.
Talking about the challenges being faced by them in completion of the project Baruah said, “It is a difficult project to execute and the work is ongoing. Essentially, we are able to execute the work for only eight months in a year as the construction gets delayed due to several reasons such as holidays, VVIP visits etc.”
“We are trying our best to give as many connections as possible,” added Baruah.
JICA is assisting a water supply project in the North Guwahati region as well as in South-Central Guwahati. The project began in 2010, but the execution of actual work has started only from 2012-2013.
The JICA-assisted project has missed several deadlines due to the sluggish pace of work over the past few years. JICA is providing a total loan amount of Rs 1426 Crores for the project which is nearly 60 per cent complete.
It is to be mentioned that a water pipe of Gammon India, too, had burst in Kharghuli in August injuring three people. The incident took place near Don Bosco Institute as the water over flowed from the pipe.
Authorities had said that they were conducting the testing of the pipe when the incident took place.
