Maharashtra cabinet approves implementation of the Marathwada water grid project

The Maharashtra cabinet on June 23, 2021 approved the implementation of the Marathwada water grid project  for an initial amount of Rs 2.85 billion. In the first phase, the project will begin from the Jaikwadi dam in Paithan taluka in Aurangabad. The second phase will cover other talukas of Aurangabad, followed by work on dams in the Beed, Osmanabad, Latur, Jalna, Nanded, Hingoli and Parbhani districts in the third phase. The project proposes to connect 11 major dams in Marathwada through large pipelines, including a primary loop connecting the reservoirs to enable water to be pumped from water-surplus dams to areas serviced by reservoirs with low storage levels, and a secondary grid of pipelines to convey water to the region’s 76 talukas on design-build-finance-operate-transfer basis under a hybrid annuity-based PPP model at an investment of Rs 160 billion.