Mumbai: Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has directed officials to expedite the Marathwada Water Grid Project, including the submission of its Preliminary Project Report to the Department of Economic Affairs in the Union Ministry of Finance, The Hawk reported on Saturday.

Source: The Hawk via India Water Future

The project is expected to receive financial assistance of approximately Rs 20,000 crore from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). It aims to transfer water from surplus dams to drought-prone reservoirs through a network of closed pipelines with a two-way flow system, according to the report.

Source: The Hawk via India Water Future

The first phase will cover Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Beed, Latur and Dharashiv districts. NewsPoint reported that the first phase will link six dams spread over the four districts and aims to serve about one crore people and support industrial growth by 2029.

Source: NewsPoint

Rs 20,000 croreanticipated JICA assistance
6dams to be linked in the first phase
4districts in the first phase
Rs 25,056 croreestimated cost across all eight districts

The overall project cost across all eight Marathwada districts is estimated at Rs 25,056 crore, The Hawk reported. Marathwada is among Maharashtra's most water-stressed regions, where erratic rainfall and poor storage leave many communities dependent on water tankers for months in dry periods, Nation Press noted in its report on the announcement.

Source: Nation Press

What happens next: the preliminary report must go to the Department of Economic Affairs, and — as Nation Press outlined — a formal agreement, a JICA appraisal process and state budget allocations for co-financing would still need to clear before construction can begin. No formal JICA loan agreement has been announced yet; the Rs 20,000 crore figure is the anticipated assistance attached to the first phase, not a signed loan.

Source: Nation Press