CHENNAI: After being kept on the back burner for nearly six years, the two mega desalination plants proposed to come up in Perur and Nemmeli, are set to see some progress this year. Negligible headway made in both projects since their announcement in 2013, had drawn severe criticism from political leaders and experts. On May 27, works orders were issued to start construction work of the 150 MLD plant at Nemmeli along ECR which is funded by the German agency KfW.
For nearly six months, the tender process couldn’t be commenced due to a pending case at the Madras High Court. Officials said that as the case has been closed, work order was allotted to the lowest bidder and the plant will be commissioned by the end of 2021.
“Construction at the Nemmeli plant will start by next week. Once it is commissioned, this will come as a huge relief to nearly 23 lakh residents in south-western parts of Chennai.
As we have no perennial water source in the city, we have no other option but to opt for desalination technology. But we have adhered to all the recommendations of the environment ministry,” said a senior Metro Water official. It can be recalled that in 2013, former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa announced about the projects in the assembly and said that treated water from the plants will cater to nearly 31 lakh residents in south and southwestern parts of the city.
On the other hand, the 400 MLD desalination plant at Perur was repeatedly delayed due to many procedures put forth by funding agency JICA. Finally, the Project Management Consultant (PMC) for this project will be chosen by July end after which tenders will be floated by December end. This comes in the wake of Metro Water proposing a new project of building five mini desalination plants.
‘Different requirements’
Metro Water officials said that as both projects are funded by different agencies, requirements to start construction set by them too varied.
“KfW asked us to immediately start the tender process after finalising the project design with them. But in the Perur plant’s case, JICA particularly wanted to appoint the PMC to finalise the design, and prepare the bid document before finalising the tender which is a time-consuming process. We hope to commission the plant by end of 2022,” added an official.