The Chennai Corporation is gearing up to send one of its single largest proposals, which aims to integrate storm water drains under the limits of the civic body, to the State government for approval. The mammoth project involved construction of an integrated storm water drain network in areas brought under the Corporation last year. With a rough cost estimate of Rs 3,000 crore, the project will aim to build and upgrade the storm water drain network across 252 sq km, to channel rain water into the sea through rivers and other canals. In entirety, the project envisions the construction of a whopping 1,088 km of storm water drains, the upgradation and construction of 31 major canals and thousands of main arterial drains and feeder drains.
The project will cover the eight zones, which contain areas that were brought under the purview of the civic body last year.
The Detailed Project Report (DPR) for the scheme is on the verge of completion by the Tamil Nadu Urban Finance Infrastructure Services Limited (TUFISL). The report had been submitted to the Corporation a few weeks ago, after holding stakeholder meetings. Officials had responded with suggestions to make the proposal to improve administrative feasibility.
With the final DPR expected to be submitted to the civic body by TUFISL in the next two weeks, the Corporation is gearing up to forward the proposal to the State government for approval. This is expected to happen within a month’s time. It will then be up to the State government to approve the project. “The State government may approve the project all at once, or in phases. It is a policy matter, which will involve considerations over the finance of the project,” says a Corporation official.
The Corporation does not have the wherewithal to fund the project by itself, and it is expected that a substantial portion of the funding could come from the second phase of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM - II).