CITY DEVELOPMENT PLAN OF BERHAMPUR (Water supply and Transportation)

SUBMITTED BY SIBASISH PATTANAYAK

Orissa is a prominent state of India with a long coastline and is a storehouse of mineral wealth. Berhampur city is the third most populous urban area in the state of Orissa and 113th overall in India. It is mainly a trading centre for Southern Orissa having its influence over eight districts. It is the oldest city of Ganjam District. Now-a-days Berhampur city is famous for its widespread contribution to human resources in extremely important and decision-making positions all over the globe.

The City Development Plan under JNNURM focuses on the development of economic and social infrastructure, strategies that deal specifically with issues affecting the urban poor, strengthening of municipal governments and their financial accounting and budgeting systems and procedures, creation of structures for bringing in accountability and transparency, and elimination of legal and other bottlenecks that have stifled the land and housing markets.

` ` ` ` ` `

Enhancing Service delivery and productivity Reducing poverty Specific emphasis to gender Improving urban governance and Enhancing financial sustainability Preparing the cities for effective disaster management.

Urban growth results in heavy pressure on infrastructure, particularly water supply, sewerage, solid waste management, sanitation, road network, traffic and transportation etc. Unless infrastructure is improved, quality of life suffers. Most importantly it impacts economic development of the city and investment climate. It is important for Berhampur to have a long-term vision of achieving world-class standards of service delivery.

At present Berhampur needs around 57 MLD of water but the current supply is of only 33MLD. The supply falls in summer due to the drying of the Rushikulya River, which is one of the major sources of water. During the summers the water supply is only 27MLD. Every summer drinking water has to be supplied to water scarcity areas of the city by tankers. A few years ago drinking water had to be transported to the city by railway tankers.

Piped water supply facility to Berhampur town was first provided in 1905 A.D. with a capacity of 2.72 MLD for a design population of 30,000 and th en augmented in 1961 to supply 9.08 MLD of water. Present water supply in the city is 33 MLD of which 27 MLD is from river source and 6 MLD is from tube well. The ground water source (cheapest source) in the city and its periphery do not have the potential with respect to quality and quantity. The present demand for water supply is about 57 MLD against which the production is just 33 MLD.

Renovation work of the reservoir is in the progress, which will in turn increase the supply by 15MLD. The main problem of the water supply of Berhampur is that the source is very far from the city. Water comes to the city through open canals and due to a lot of tapping on the way there is about 80% loss of water. There is a proposal for closed water pipes and an amount of Rs 215 crores has been sanctioned for the purpose.

SOURCES OF WATER AT PRESENT

About 70% of the population is covered by piped water supplyThe connection details are given in the table below where 84% of the connections are domestic. There are 1755 stand posts and 918654 numbers of hand pumps which is located mostly in the slum areas where access to piped water is limited.

1. As per the standard norms of CPHEEO and UDPFI guidelines the per capita supply of water should be 135 lpcd. The per capita supply of water in Berhampur is 73 lpcd. Many people depend on hand pumps as well. The present water bodies have also dried up and are encroached. This calls for programs for augmentation of source, reducing NRW, Ground water regulation and recharging and rainwater harvesting. 2. Berhampur depends on three sources for its water supply: the Rushikulya Joint (12 mld), water supply from Dakhinapur (15 mld) and Production wells (48 Nos, 6 mld). The present demand for water supply is about 57 MLD against which the production is just 33 mld. The quantity is very low. The water supply system is inadequate and poor. The coverage of water supply is only 70 percent. 3. In order to regulate uncontrolled exploitation of underground water sources there is a need for initiatives viz., licensing, registering and taxing the private bore wells under a well-organized regulatory mechanism, recharging of groundwater, programs for rain water harvesting etc.

4. The billing and collection system is poor and hence there is low cost recovery.There is no metered connection. Tariff is charged on a flat rate basis. O&M recoveryis also only 46%. 5. The supply of water is sporadic and the frequency of supply varies from 2 hoursdaily and in some places every alternate day. 6. The water pipes are very old and hence there is a need for replacement.

Berhampur city is well connected by road and rail network. The Howrah-Chennai Railway line of South-Eastern Railway passes through the city making Berhampur as the busiest station in this region. Similarly N.H.5 runs close to the city providing direct linkage to Kolkata & Chennai. N.H. 217 also runs through this city. The city is well connected with districts through S.H.No.7, 17 & 65. There are 20 major roads in the city covering a distance of 45 kms.

1. NH 217 passes through the city causing a lot of traffic problems. 2. The roads in the city are in poor condition. The traffic management is not efficient. There is inadequate and disorganized road furniture- signage, streetlights, signals, medians, etc. 3. Lack of adequate parking space has been identified as a major problem in the city. Lack of proper parking facility in the city is leading to congestion as the vehicles are parked on the roadside haphazardly and there by reducing the width of the road. 4. Inadequate landscaping and greeneries along the roads. 5. Presence of cattle on the roads creates a nuisance and obstructs traffic movement.

The objective of this section is to evaluate the investment sustenance capacity of Berhampur Municipality with reference to the identified projects given in CIP. The FOP generated under is in full consonance with City's Vision & approach to development and priorities and action plans approved by the stakeholders.

The financing part of the city is very poor and the water supply part is very challenging because the water source are very far from the city so government have to make adequate arrangements for bringing water from the sources and piping arrangements should be increased. This Municipality is over burdened with different loans and payment of provident Fund & gratuity etc. to the retired employees. The holding tax is not yet revised since long due to certain difficulties. Overall the development work has been affected due to lack of adequate funds.

Report of Administrtive Staff College of India, Hyderabad.(2008) Report of GOI-UNDP Orissa project.