Guntur won’t face drinking water problems for next 20 years once major projects are completed, says civic chief

Guntur Municipal Corporation faces delays in major drinking water projects, causing frustration among residents.

A long delay in completion of work on the Gorantla head water tank along with other two major drinking water projects, undertaken by the Guntur Municipal Corporation, has become a source of much frustration for the city’s residents.

The GMC had initiated work on three projects to provide safe drinking water to residents in Gorantla, Nagaralu, Reddy Palem and merged villages.

“Work on a water tank with a capacity of 4,200KL is in progress since 2018. The water tank is coming up atop Gorantla hill, at a height of around 110 metres. The water supply will be gravity-based. The project was initiated under the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) 1.0, Phase 2, with an estimated expenditure of around ₹33.5 crore out of which the Centre contributes ₹10.37 crore and the State government ₹4.01 crore. The GMC’s share is ₹19.15 crore,” explained GMC Commissioner Puli Srinivasulu.

He said that the project was delayed due to several factors in the last three years, but work was again restarted in October 2024. He said that almost 90% of the work on the project was over, and it would be fully completed in the next couple of months. Once this project was completed, areas like Gorantla, Reddypalem and others would benefit, he said.

The Commissioner said that, apart from the Gorantla head water tank, the GMC has also proposed two other major projects under the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). He said that the first project was taken up with an estimated budget of ₹170 crore in 2018 and another project with ₹184 crore in 2022. He said that these two projects are aimed at supplying quality drinking water by constructing required reservoirs, treatment plants and supply network systems for the newly-merged villages.

Mr. Srinivasulu said that once these three projects are completed, the city would not face water problems at least for the next 20 years.

On the other hand, GMC Standing Committee member Nukavarapu Balaji alleged that the previous YSRCP government had neglected these three projects. He alleged that the State government had not released the required funds for a long time which was why the Gorantla water tank project was delayed for the last three years.