The Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) has signed a memorandum of understanding with the French Company, Suez Environment (SE), a provider of water and environmental services for cities and industries, for a technical assistance project aiming at improving the city’s water supply system.The total cost of the project amounts to Rs 6.3 crore.
It will be supported by French Bilateral Funding. Both PCMC and Suez Environment expect this engagement to lead to sustainability of improvement initiatives, systematic transfer of know how to PCMC engineers, and subsequent city-wide expansion. Suez has been present in India through its subsidiary Degrémont, worldwide specialist in water treatment engineering.
Commenting on this, PCMC Municipal Commissioner, Asheesh Sharma,said, "The union ministry of urban development and Department of Economic Affairs have already given their consent for this initiative supported, amongst others, by the French Government. The basic aim of the project is to ensure more equitable distribution of water in PCMC area. It will be articulated in three phases to be deployed over a period of nine months and will commence with the setting up of a demonstration pilot zone to improve water supply."
The third phase of this technical assistance project will consist in conducting the diagnosis of PCMC’s water department covering all aspects of the services.