Udupi: Pramod Madhwaraj, Minister of State for Fisheries, Youth Empowerment and Sports, said on Friday that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah would lay the foundation stone for the project to get water from the Varahi to Udupi city to meet the drinking water needs during summer, at Brahmavar on January 8.

Addressing presspersons here, Mr. Madhwaraj said that after a hydrological survey, it was found that the construction of a third dam against the Swarna, from where water is being supplied to Udupi city, would be of no use as its storage capacity was low.

Hence it had been decided to get water from the Varahi near Bharatkal through pipelines to Udupi.This would provide round-the-clock and round-the-year water to the city. This project would cost ₹270 crore. Last year, the water in the Swarna had dried up on April 29 and the Varahi has perennial water supply.

The other important projects which will be inaugurated by Mr. Siddaramaiah are the third phase of Malpe Fisheries Harbour built at a cost of ₹69 crore, the 9-crore Kurady Bridge, the ₹1.5-crore Zilla Panchayat Training Centre in Manipal among others.

The works which would be inaugurated and for which foundation stones would be laid had been estimated to cost 581 crore, Mr. Madhwaraj said.