KEIP Phase II to cost Rs 2,500 crore

The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) has estimated a cost of Rs 2,500 crore for the second phase of a sewerage and drainage improvement programme under the Kolkata Environment Improvement Project(KEIP).

According to KEIP project director, Vivek Bharadwaj, work on the project was expected to begin in the next financial year and would provide improved sewerage and related amenities in parts of Kolkata that were left out in the first phase.

KEIP was eying funds from the Centre under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission(JNNURM). "While the financials for the project were not firmed up, the Asian Development Bank has agreed to provide loans to the Centre for the project", Bharadwaj said. The rest of the project cost will be borne by the West Bengal government and the KMC. He also added that the first phase of the project may be delayed by only a few months from its revised completion deadline of December 2010. The project was drawn up in 2002, while the work started in 2005. It was earlier projected to be completed by 2007. Out of the Rs 1,806 crore estimated investment in the first phase, Rs 700 crore was invested so far, and the rest was to be put in within the next two years. Nearly 66 per cent of the sewerage and drainage work and 50 per cent of the overall work is already complete.