Shillong, Aug 28: Work on the Rs 538-crore New Shillong Water Supply Scheme (NSWSS) Phase-I is under implementation while the Rs 1,111.56-crore NSWSS-II is yet to be sanctioned, Minister for Public Health Engineering (PHE) Marcuise N Marak informed the Assembly on Tuesday.
Approved on March 15 this year, the work for NSWSS-I was awarded to M/s BAC Infratech Private Limited in June 2024 and the project is in the initial stages of implementation.
Informing this while replying to a call attention notice moved by opposition VPP legislator Heaving Stone Kharpran, the minister said phase-I of the project envisages construction of major components viz., construction of dam, 2 jack well with a pump house on top of the well to house the machineries and associated equipment, construction of stage I & II pumping system, power station, pumping main, construction of water treatment plant, clear water sump etc., and appurtenant works.
The scope of EPC (Engineering, Procurement & Construction) contract for the project comprises work of survey, investigation, design and procuring materials & equipment, construction, installation & execution of the entire water supply system.
On the demand for allotting work to local contractors, the minister said in order to provide the most modern and efficient process of operation and monitoring of the entire project, all components under Phase I 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 the water treatment plant with LAN (Local Area Network) compatibility and remote capturing of data with the network. Automation of the total system in the command control room shall also be established. The contractor shall also incorporate the SCADA process for pressure and leakage monitoring in the pipe system.
“The various components under Phase-I 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 specialized nature of the work involving installation of SCADA/IoT system. 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,” Marak said.
The phase-II with proposed cost of Rs 1,111.56 crore envisages laying of clear water pumping main, clear water gravity main, construction of clear water reservoirs and laying of distribution system including appurtenant works.
He said that The New Shillong Water Supply Project has been so designed for total integration of the whole system of both Phase-I & Phase-II.
“Therefore, the Phase-II of the project which is an extension of the Phase-I, shall also have automation control and SCADA/IoT systems,” he added while also informing that 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 ie, the command control room for accurate up to date reports. Hence, significant technicalities shall also be involved in the implementation of the phase-II of the project.
Under phase-II, the minister said, for effective central control of the operation and monitoring of the entire integrated system driven by SCADA /IoT systems, the execution has to be under an EPC contract so that even last mile issues are resolved comprehensively.
