Mangaluru: Even as the implementation of the Jalasiri 24×7 drinking water supply scheme in Mangaluru City Corporation (MCC) limits is delayed, the urban development department imposed a penalty of Rs 18 lakh on the contractors.Urban development minister Byrathi Suresh informed this in his reply to a query by MLC Ivan D’Souza during the state legislature session. The minister informed that a meeting of the contractors will be convened soon to ensure that the project is completed by Dec 31.The MLC brought to the notice of the minister that the project, which began in 2019, achieved an overall physical progress of just 63%. The work, which should have been completed by 2013, received an extended deadline of Dec this year. While the ADB-funded Jalasiri drinking water project of Rs 821.9 crore involves laying 52.5km of pipeline, 44.6km of work has been completed so far. Meanwhile, out of 1,155.3km of the distribution network, only 868.8km was completed. While the project aims to provide 93,600 drinking water connections, only 37,025 consumers are connected, the MLC pointed out.The minister, in his reply, stated that a penalty of Rs 18 lakh was already imposed on the contractor towards liquidity damages. The minister said that Covid-19, rain, delays in land acquisition, the supply of machinery and labour, obtaining permission from the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and Railways, and other reasons led to delays in the execution of the work. Further, the minister also explained that the roads dug up for the work are being restored.In fact, the contractors, SUEZ Projects and DRS Infratech, were initially given the deadline of May 24, 2023, to complete the project. Later, the deadline was extended to Nov 23, 2025, and the minister assured that necessary steps will be taken to complete the project by Dec 31 this year.
