TG Halli reservoir rejuvenation misses second deadline

The rejuvenation of the Thippagondanahalli (TG Halli) reservoir has missed the second deadline of March 2022. Authorities now expect the work to be completed only by September 2022, a one-year delay from the original deadline.

The Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) attributed the delay to the Covid pandemic which caused both labour scarcity and delay in the arrival of machinery from abroad.

“The pandemic slowed down the pace of the work. However, we have now expedited the project and set a September 2022 deadline,” said BWSSB chief engineer S V Ramesh.

So far, engineers have managed to remove the silt completely. “Dredging is 100% complete. We have also completed 90% of the pipeline-laying work. However, setting up sewage treatment plant and water treatment plant will take time since the equipment has to arrive from Germany, Sweden and Italy,” a senior BWSSB official said.

“Owing to the pandemic, we could not inspect the machinery that had to be imported. Also, manufacturing was stalled in the other countries as well.

Hence, most of the machinery is yet to arrive,” he added.

Though the overall project progress stands at 75%, officials are confident that the project will pick up the pace once the machinery arrives. “Once the machines are installed, we will have to take up bioremediation to clean up the reservoir, after which we will be able to operate it,” a BWSSB engineer explained.

The TG Halli reservoir, which was a major source of water for Bengaluru in the 1970s, had turned dry by 2012 and its rejuvenation will allow the BWSSB to pump 110 MLD of water to western Bengaluru.

The rejuvenation work, which is taken up at Rs 291 crore, started in March 2019 and had an initial deadline of September 2021.

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