Visakhapatnam :
Noida-based consultancy firm Royal Haskoning DHV, part of the Dutch Royal Haskoning group, has been commissioned by the Union ministry of housing, urban development and poverty alleviation to undertake a study and prepare an action plan for implementing a clean sanitation programme covering the entire Greater Visakhapatanam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) limits.
The project, called capacity building for urban development, is expected to be completed within the next four months, GVMC commissioner MV Satyanarayana said, pointing out that the consultancy firm will prepare an action plan and submit a report to the central government. The report will also include the requirement for necessary funds from the Centre and state, apart from the share to be put in by GVMC, based on the financial status of the civic body.
Showcasing the highlights of the preliminary studies to various stakeholders on Wednesday, team leader Ashit Neema said their team had been conducting a study for the last 20 days in the city and had looked at drinking water supply, sanitation, drainages and solid waste management.
As per the 2011 census, Neema said 68% of the houses in the city were getting clean drinking water whereas 17% were dependent on borewells and another 15% on wells. Furthemore, coming to the sanitation aspect, he said about 86% people had access to toilets, 4% were dependent on public toilets and 10% has no access to toilets. Also, he said that only 60% of city had drainages and that there was a need to strengthen the city’s solid waste management system.
Neema said the project would be taken up in eight phases, with the first phase being constituting a city sanitation task force, followed by various rounds of workshops to make stakeholders understand the problems and resolve them . He said that a final city sanitation plan would be released after four months or so as part of the project in order to make Vizag a clean city.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Visakhapatnam / TNN / June 05th, 2014