The Hindu : WB lauds progress of Jalanidhi

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jan 06, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Kerala-Thiruvananthapuram

WB lauds progress of Jalanidhi

By Our Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM Jan. 5. The World Bank (WB) has expressed happiness about the progress of the Kerala Rural Water Supply and Environment Sanitation Project being implemented on a pilot basis with bank funding in select local body areas in Thrissur, Palakkad, Malappuram and Kozhikode districts.

The supervision mission of the bank, which visited Kerala for a review during mid-September, has noted that some 6,000 families had begun receiving benefits from the new drinking water schemes executed under the project and, more importantly, that these schemes were being financed and managed by the user groups.

The WB country director, Michael Carter, has, in a communication to the State Government, said since the last mission, there has been good progress in filling staff vacancies, improving flow of funds to the projects and in rehabilitating and transferring management of existing Kerala Water Authority (KWA) schemes to the grama panchayats in some of the project districts.

The WB country director has, however, cautioned that re-emergence of fund flow problems due to the State Government's difficult fiscal situation, delay in transfer of KWA schemes to the other panchayats, unresolved problem of payment of outstanding power bills by the grama panchayats and any further implementation delays could adversely affect the pace of project implementation.

He has said most of the milestones agreed with the previous mission have been achieved, the most important among these being clearance of `populist hurdles' in taking over existing KWA schemes by the grama panchayats and beneficiary groups and their rehabilitation by the beneficiary groups, successful management of some 80 schemes by the beneficiary groups for more than eight months and creation of demand for conversion of existing unsanitary latrines into sanitary ones and generation of greater interest and demand for roof water harvesting schemes.

The WB mission has made it clear that any change in the present organisational structure of the KRWSA that could undermine its autonomous nature would have adverse implications for the project profile and its implementation. It has also directed the State to submit to the bank a revised strategy for promoting roof water harvesting schemes including coverage, design, capacities and cost sharing rules and revised cost sharing rules for the poorest of the poor people, particularly Scheduled Castes and fisherfolk and strategy for rehabilitation of KWA schemes in more panchayats.

The mission has noted that transfer of KWA schemes to the panchayats had proved to be difficult because of resistance of the panchayats to take over schemes that were not working well and users having to pay user charges once the schemes were taken over and the reluctance of the panchayats to collect user charges because that would be an unpopular action. Despite these difficulties, except in grama panchayat, the KRWSA had succeeded in making the transfers happen. New guidelines were necessary to overcome these hurdles, the WB country director said.

Meanwhile, a review meeting undertaken by Mr. Meenakshi Sundaram, secretary, Department of Drinking Water Supply, Ministry of Rural Development, held in mid-November, has expressed concern that timely release of funds to the KRWSA had not improved despite the remarks of the World Bank mission. He has told the State Government to take keen interest in timely fund release. He had also told the State to utilise the experiences of the KRWSA to train the personnel and beneficiaries of sector reforms projects and other community-based water supply projects now on in the State.

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WB lauds progress of Jalanidhi