Meghalaya PHE Minister Responds to Calling Attention Notice on New Shillong Water Supply Scheme

Shillong: Meghalaya Public Health Engineering (PHE) Minister, Marcuise Marak informed the House that the New Shillong Water Supply Scheme (Phase - I) was accorded Administrative Approval vide Letter No. PHED/1356/15032024/4215/05, on March 15, 2024 for an amount of Rs. 538.44 Crores under State Plan.

“The EPC Contract was awarded to M/s BAC Infratech Private Limited on June 26, 2024 and the project is in the initial stages of implementation,” Marak said in his reply to a Calling Attention Notice brought by Mawryngkneng MLA, Heaving Stone Kharpran. The PHE Minister said that work has been awarded and the project is in the initial stages of implementation.  He also informed the House that Phase II of the New Shillong Water Supply Scheme is anticipated to cost Rs. 1,111.56 and the amount is yet to be sanctioned.  The total cost of the project for both phases is Rs. 1600 crore.

Marak informed the House that Phase I of the project envisages construction of major components, namely, construction of a dam, construction of two Jack wells with a pump house on top of the well to house the machinery and associated equipment, construction of Stage 1 and Stage II pumping systems, a power station, a pumping main, construction of a water treatment plant, a clear water pump, and appurtenant works.

The contract for the work “Construction of water supply system for New Shillong Township (Phase-1)” is an EPC (Engineering, Procurement, and Construction) contract where the scope of work comprises of survey, investigation, design and procurement of materials and equipment, construction, installation, and execution of the entire water supply system.

He also informed that the scope of the contract includes operation and maintenance of the project for a period of two years over and above the defect liability period of 1 (One) year, construction of Dam in the bed of River Wah-Umkhen, Raw water Pump House/Jack-well to pump 70 MLD ultimate demand including supply and erection of pumps (for 33MLD), Sub-Station etc (for 33MLD), Supply and Laying MS Raw Water Rising Main pipe line from Pump House to Raw water Sump at Stage-I (near village Mawpdang and Jariot) etc.

Marak said that in order to provide the most modern and efficient process of operation and monitoring of the entire project, all components under Phase 1 of the Project shall be installed with SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) / IoT (Internet of Things) System. SCADA Control System shall be established from the source point to water treatment plant with LAN (Local Area Network) compatibility and remote capturing of data with Network.

The PHE Minister said that hence, the entire project shall be governed by SCADA/IoT Systems which in general is an automatically mechanized system that controls all the components at a central location, in which operation and monitoring of the entire system is being done.

“This system is extremely important for future operation and maintenance of the scheme. It will help to immediately identify defects, breakdowns, water flow, water quantity, water quality, etc, and it will also be beneficial to take up any remedial measures promptly and instantly,” Marak said.

Therefore, he said that the various components under Phase - 1 of the project cannot be bifurcated and it is not at all feasible to allot the work components to multiple firms/contractors keeping in mind the sophistication involved and the specialize nature of the work involving installation of SCADA/loT system.

According to the PHE Minister, the firm entrusted with the work shall have to be very capable, experienced, technically competent, and highly acquainted with large projects involving SCADA/IoT Systems.

The Phase-II of the Project which is an extension of the Phase-1, shall also have automation control and SCADA/IoT Systems. Smart Metering has been proposed for the Distribution Network and Reservoirs for incoming and outgoing flow data and Smart Billing has also been proposed using automation systems by gathering data into one platform i.e, the command control room for accurate upto date reports.

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