CRISIL puts spokes in Water Board’s bonds plan

hyderabad: following in the footsteps of the municipal corporation of hyderabad (mch), the hyderabad metropolitan water supply & sewerage board (hmws&sb) too tried to float bonds to improve the existing system, but its efforts were nipped in the bud. crisil, the credit rating agency which was engaged by the water board, refused to give any rating after studying the functioning of the board.the water board has initiated several reforms such as daily monitoring of supplies, making the field staff responsible for bill collection, decentralisation of billing system and collection of dues, among others to improve the board’s efficiency. speaking to the times of india, hmws&sb managing director m g gopal said it would take two or three years to improve the system. “everybody knows the situation of the board. presently, no one is coming forward to fund the projects owing to poor revenues. certainly, the system can be improved with sustained efforts,� he said. on an average, the water board incurs a loss of rs 5.34 crore per month due to non-payment of bills by consumers. it needs about rs 70 crore to replace the existing obsolete distribution and supply lines of the system. the prestigious krishna water project requires an approximate rs 850 crore. having failed to secure a rating, the water board has requested the state government to raise bonds on its behalf to mop up funds, which is pending for consideration. the government, which appears serious on implementing the krishna water project that envisages bringing of water from nagarjunasagar to the city, is awaiting the gas authority of india limited (gail) and other private parties nod for executing the project. gail had earlier expressed its willingness to offer its expertise in laying pipelines. however, following the request from the water board, it has agreed to take up the project on build, own, operate and transfer (boot) basis. gail had been negotiating with the government officials over the cost-benefit analysis which is yet to be finalised. the water board has been asked to submit a detailed report on its functioning, operational and maintenance cost and revenues. another meeting between gail and water board officials is scheduled for this week. a final decision on the krishna water project is expected to be taken by the first week of april, according to sources.