CHENNAI: With the monsoon less than a month away, threat of flood stares at the city as over 200 storm water links still remain missing, according to sources. Corporation sources told Express that the number of storm water drain missing links identified by flood monitoring officers is 211 while the consultant appointed by the TN Urban Infrastructure Financial Services says it is 258. Efforts are on to take up the construction of missing links on a priority basis.
According to officials, `200 crore has been sought for the construction of missing links and for reconstruction of SWDs.
Missing links in stormwater drain on arterial roads including Periyar Salai, Ormes Road in Kilpauk, Shanti Colony in Anna Nagar, Nelson Manickam Road, Sardar Patel Road and Gandhi Mandapam Road in Adyar would be taken up, once the funds have come through, said Corporation officials.
Major parts of the work are to be carried out in Tondiarpet, Royapuram, Thiru Vi Ka Nagar, Anna Nagar, Teynampet, Kodambakkam and Adyar zones of the Chennai Corporation. This is besides the integrated storm water drain works to be carried out in Thiruvottriyur, Manali, Madhavaram and parts of Ambattur under the Kosasthalaiyar basin and Perungudi and Sozhinganallur zones.
It is learnt that the government is considering using the smart city project funds and a plan is drawn up to complete the missing links worth more than 50 km in around 130 places initially at a cost of `150 crore. However, decision is yet to be taken up.
It is also learnt that the state government is considering the proposal of the Greater Chennai Corporation for engagement of a consultant to monitor the work of construction of storm water drains at various locations.
Onus on contractor
The consultant would finalise all alignments of storm water drains and supervise the works during execution and ensure the works are carried out by the contractor as per the approved design
This comes after the Comptroller and Auditor General report has hit out at the state government over missing links in stormwater drains (SWDs). The report said that the Greater Chennai Corporation did not prepare any master plan for stormwater drains. Though a department headed by a superintending engineer had been functioning to deal with construction of SWDs, no attempt was ever made by the GCC to prepare a master plan to approach the issue in a systematic manner.
“Lack of a master plan with a timeline had resulted in poor coverage of SWDs and unidentified missing links in the network,” the report has stated.
The CAG report states that in GCC areas, as against the road length of 7,303 km, SWDs were provided only for a length of 1,894 km which formed only 26 per cent of the total road length. Scrutiny of records of sampled zones revealed that SWD network was not adequate.
During monsoon in November 2014, GCC identified 52 missing links of SWDs in road margins and sub-mains which were not connected to the SWD network. There were also non-provision of SWDs to full length in the streets, despite sanction of funds, defeating the objective of creating comprehensive drainage facilities, which contributed to inundation of the areas during 2015 floods, the report said.