The company, Anglian Water International, of the United Kingdom, which had won the bid for the Rs 670 crore project, to be spread over 23 years, has accused ``vested interests'' of scuttling the deal.

According to country manager J Anand Kumar, the project could have resulted in the availability of an average of 1135 litres of pure quality water per person per day in five years.

``In seven years we could have given 24 hours continuous water supply all over Goa,'' he said.

Goa, which does not have its own water resources, depends on the Selaulim reservoir and the Opa river for its supplies. Much of the state's water supply is routed through a 42-km-long pipeline which, both the company and Chief Minister D'Souza agree, is severely damagedin several places. ``About five kilometres of the pipe needs to be completely replaced,'' says Anand Kumar.

However, justifying the need to scrap the project and call for fresh tendering, D'Souza noted that the laying of an additional pipeline would further inflate costs. ``We wanted them to utilise the water from an irrigation canal at Rata instead of installing another pipeline,'' D'Souza said.

Anglian Waters however insisted that the canal would not be able to provide enough water for Margao town throughout the year. ``Unlike irrigation, drinking water needs security of supply. The canal does not have any storage facilities,'' Anand Kumar said. He in fact added that parts of the canal constructed in Portuguese times, need to be written off because they were damaged.

According to Anand Kumar the average domestic consumer would pay between Rs 2.80 and Rs 4.20 per kilolitre (kl) of water at a fixed rate for 23 years. (Should the government maintain its current levels of subsidy for water it would costRs 2.80 per kl. Though should be subsidies be scrapped, the cost would be Rs 4.20 per kl). On the other hand industries would have to pay Rs 24 per kl of water.

Though its water costs are higher Rs 15.81 per cent kl compared to Rs 9.17 for the PWD, Anglian Water International insists that it can keep tariffs low by reducing wastage. At present more than 40 per cent of water is wasted due to leaks and sabotages. ``We were also willing to provide 10 million litres of water to the poor forces daily,'' Anand Kumar said.