On the occasion of an official visit to India by French President Emmanuel Macron last week, Mr Manjunath Ballari, Commissioner of Davanagere City Corporation, and Jean-Louis Chaussade, CEO of SUEZ, signed a contract for the rehabilitation and operation of Davanagere City’s drinking water system. The 12-year, €70m project will ensure a constant 24/7 supply of drinking water to Davanagere's 500,000 inhabitants.

 

Davanagere City, one of the largest hubs for textile and agricultural products in Karnataka State, is among the 10 municipalities chosen for the ‘Smart Cities’ programme launched by the Indian government. The contract awarded to SUEZ includes rehabilitation, operation and maintenance of the three drinking water production plants with a capacity of 120 000m3/day, alongside that of the distribution system (reservoirs, house connections, water meters, valves) and the construction of a new distribution network to replace the current network, which is now obsolete.

 

The works, which will last four years, cover a 75km² area, including 92,000 buildings (80,000 residential and 12,000 commercial or industrial buildings), and a water distribution network of 1,200km. This works phase will be followed by an eight-year period of operation and maintenance of the water production plants and the drinking water system to ensure constant access to drinking water for a population that is currently only supplied once every three-to-four days. The contract also sets objectives for improving the network's performance, water quality and customer service by setting up a call-centre and customer agencies to provide a personal service and efficient resolution of requests and complaints.

 

“SUEZ has been supporting large municipalities [in India] since 2012 – including Delhi, Bangalore and, more recently, Kolkata and Coimbatore – to improve drinking water services for a rapidly-growing population,” informed Mr Chaussade , Chief Executive Officer of SUEZ. “We are proud of this new contract, which illustrates the Group's commitment to providing local authorities with reliable and tailored solutions to respond to the growing challenge of drinking water access.”