Nagesh Prabhu The Karnataka Government has decided to extend the 24x7 water supply scheme from a few select wards to the entire city corporations of Hubli-Dharwad, Belgaum and Gulbarga. After the successful execution of the continuous water supply project in 27 wards of three city corporations, the Karnataka Urban Infrastructure Development and Finance Corporation (KUIDFC) has prepared a proposal to scale up the project to all wards of three civic bodies, at an estimated cost of Rs 735 crore. A pilot 24x7 water supply scheme project, which was aided by the World Bank, was executed in 27 wards of three city corporations at a cost of Rs 237 crore. Private funding Mr Arvind Shrivastava, Managing Director, KUIDFC, said that the State Government had approved the Rs 735 crore project, which will be implemented on a public-private partnership (PPP) model in three city corporations. The investment by a private operator in the project would be 50 per cent (Rs 367 crore), Central Government funds under the Viability Gap Funding would be 20 per cent (Rs 147 crore), State Government contribution would be 20 per cent (Rs 147 crore), and urban local body contribution would be 10 per cent (Rs 73 crore).