Latur Water Supply Scheme

active

Latur city is located in the state of Maharashtra. It is the district headquarters and had a population of approximately 350,000 in 2001 (Census of India 2001).The water supply network in the city, initially managed by the local government, Latur Municipal Council (LMC) was handed over to Maharashtra Jeevan Pradhikaran (MJP), the state level parastatal agency responsible for water supply in Maharashtra. This was done in view of the financial constraints faced by LMC and its inability to make the necessary capital investment and manage the O&M costs. In September 2007, MJP awarded a concession for rehabilitating, operating and maintaining the Latur water supply scheme for a period of 10 years to a consortium formed by Subhash Projects & Marketing Limited, United Phosphorous Environmental Engineers Limited and Hydro-Comp Enterprises Cyprus .The concession was awarded through a competitive bidding process and the bid criteria was the highest price paid to the government. The project was expected to benefit the population of the entire city and address the water supply needs of over 100,000 households in the city. A Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) company by the three companies was formed called the Latur Water Management Company Limited (LWMCL). All three companies had an equal stake in the SPV and a tripartite agreement between MJP, the local government- Latur Municipal Council and LWMCL was signed in November 2007. As per the Contract, the operations and maintenance and repairs, including metering would be handled by LWMCL and it would incur the associated fixed and variable costs of US $8.75 million (Indian Rupees 350 million) for the agreement period. The billing and collection will be done by LWMCL as per tariff fixed by Maharashtra government. LWMC would lease the facility from MJP and operate and maintain the facility at its own risk, in lieu of a fixed payment every six months for the 10 year period.