The East Singhbhum district administration has completed the land verification process for the ambitious Jamshedpur Urban Agglomeration (JUA) drainage and sewerage project, mandated by the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM).

The Rs 626 crore project covering an area of 149sqkm is meant to service Jamshedpur (non Tata lease area), Mango, Adityapur, Jugsalai and the eight census towns of Parsudih, Ghorabandha, Chotagovindpur, Gadra, Sarjamdah, Haludbani, Kitadih and Bagbera. The project completion time is two years from the time of allocation of funds.

The month-long land verification exercise was completed on Tuesday evening at a meeting attended by JUA nodal officer-cum-special officer of Jamshedpur Notified Area Committee (JNAC) R.N. Dwiwedi along with officials of Mango Notified Area Committee (MNAC), Jugsalai Municipality and Adityapur Municipal Council (AMC).

The final draft of the detailed project report has been made by Delhi-based environmental and engineering firm Tetra Tech India Limited and has been submitted to the Union urban development ministry in December 2011.

A source in the district administration said the project is on the verge of getting a nod from the Central Public Health Engineering and Environmental Organisation (CPHEEO), a wing of the Union urban development ministry.

"The district administration sent the DPR along with the technical sanctions to the Centre. We are expecting funds allocation before March and this had necessitated completing the groundwork," the source said.

East Singhbhum additional deputy commissioner Ganesh Kumar who monitored the meeting with JUA nodal officer and civic body officials on Tuesday confirmed of selection of land for the plants and stations.

"We wanted to see that the land earmarked for treatment plants and pumping stations are free from encroachment so that there are no litigation or protest when we begin construction work. We did not want repetition of the protest by original land dwellers during the solid waste management project at Khairbani and so far, all the selected land has been found free from encroachment. We will begin construction as soon as we get funds," said Kumar.

Dwiwedi said three treatment plants, four pumping stations and six intermediary pumping stations would be set up in Jamshedpur (non Tata lease area). In Mango there would be two treatment plants and one pumping station while Jugsalai and Adityapur would have one and four treatment plants respectively.

The estimated project cost for building a sewerage and drainage system in areas under MNAC is around Rs 164 crore while the expenses for Adityapur is around Rs 157 crore. Jugsalai will get a sum of about Rs 30 crore while areas under JNAC will receive funds to the tune of Rs 147 crore. The total estimated project cost for eight census towns is around Rs 128.71 crore.