The Assam government on Wednesday informed the State Assembly that the long-delayed Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)-assisted drinking water supply projects in Guwahati, launched in 2012, are nearing completion and are now expected to be finished by December 2026.
Replying to an unstarred question by MLA Rekibuddin Ahmed, Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Kaushik Rai said the South-Central Guwahati Water Supply Project has achieved 96.75 per cent physical progress, while the North Guwahati Water Supply Project has reached 95.75 per cent completion. Both projects were originally scheduled to be completed within 36 months and 28 months, respectively, after work began in March 2012.
Rai told the House that the two JICA-funded projects have incurred a combined expenditure of Rs 1,450.87 crore, including Rs 1,425.93 crore through JICA loans and Rs 24.95 crore under the State-Owned Priority Development (SOPD) fund. The JICA loan component was fully utilised by December 2024, with the remaining work targeted for completion by December 2026.
According to the minister, the South-Central project is currently supplying drinking water to 83,569 households, while the North Guwahati project is expected to benefit around 15,000 households after full commissioning.
The Assembly was also informed that the South-West Guwahati Water Supply Project, taken up under the Guwahati Jal Board in October 2023, has achieved 72 per cent progress and is expected to be completed by mid-2027. The project has an estimated cost of Rs 324.35 crore.
The South-East Guwahati Water Supply Project has recorded 17 per cent progress under Phase I. While the Asian Development Bank-supported first phase concluded in September 2021, the remaining work resumed in March 2026 with financial assistance from the New Development Bank and is scheduled for completion by May 2029. The project is estimated to cost Rs 192.46 crore.
Rai further informed the House that the Zoo Road Water Supply Scheme, commissioned in 1996, has incurred expenditure of Rs 75.39 crore since its transfer to the Guwahati Jal Board in 2015 and currently supplies drinking water to around 900 households.
Apart from Jal Board projects, the Guwahati Municipal Corporation operates water supply schemes at Panbazar, Satpukhuri and Kamakhya. The government spent about Rs 3.52 crore on these schemes during the previous financial year, benefiting nearly 21,000 consumers.
The minister said surveys indicate that Guwahati requires water connections for about 2.21 lakh households, including 1.10 lakh in South-Central Guwahati, 15,000 in North Guwahati, 30,000 in South-West Guwahati and 66,000 in South-East Guwahati.
The government also informed the Assembly that work on the JICA-assisted Guwahati Sewerage Project is in progress, while details of Smart City Mission projects implemented in Guwahati and other urban centres since 2016 have been placed before the House in separate annexures.
