Guj plans to set up desalination plants in 8 places: Minister

The Gujarat government will set up a 10-crore litre capacity seawater desalination plant at Jodiya in Jamnagar district, and seven more such plants, with a capacity of 27 crore litres, in Saurashtra-Kutch region for drinking water purposes, state minister Kunwarji Bavaliya told the Assembly Friday.

The 10-crore litre capacity seawater desalination plant will be set up at Jodiya under a Public Private Partnership model by a special purpose vehicle (SPV) called Jodiya Water Desalination Limited, he said.

The SPV, a joint venture between India's Essel Infra and Spain's Abeinsa Infraestructuras Medio Ambiente, will invest Rs 750 crore for the plant and Rs 100 crore annually for recurring costs, Bavaliya said.

The state government, which has provided the company with land to set up the plant, will purchase water at 70 paise per litre for two years, the purchase price rising by 3 per cent annually, said the Minister of State for Water Supply.

Seawater desalination plants of 27 crore litre capacity are being planned in Mundra, Mandvi, Dwarka, Porbandar, Sutrapada, Rajula and Ghogha, and tenders have been issued for them, he said.

"Sourcing drinking water through desalination is required in coastal regions where water is saline. The state government has decided to create a parallel source of drinking water by using seawater available along its 1,600 kilometres coastline," Bavaliya said.

Talking about other projects, Bavaliya said Rs 4,300 crore has been allocated under the Centre's ambitious 'Nal Se Jal' scheme that aims to deliver piped water to all households in the country by 2024.

The state government will invest Rs 20,000 crore in the next three years to implement this scheme, he added.

He said around 18,000 projects have been completed for internal water distribution system, and work is in progress for around 2,000 projects, with another 2,000 projects in the pipeline.

"A sum of Rs 1,392.60 crore will be spent on water supply projects in tribal regions, Rs 1,174 crore on rural water projects, Rs 1,055.63 crore on Narmada Canal-based water supply projects, Rs 199 crore on reuse of treated water, and Rs 100 crore on desalination plant," he said.