CHENNAI: The German Agency for International Cooperation or (GIZ), an international enterprise owned by the German Federal Government, is working with the State government to revive the Buckingham Canal.
The project, called ‘Eyes on the Canal,’ is a stand-alone initiative on re-imagining the Buckingham Canal in Chennai as part of the Cities Fit for Climate Change project, said Tanja Feldman, director of Sustainable Urban and Industrial Development, GIZ.
Speaking to Express on the sidelines of the Reimagining Inclusive Cities here on Thursday, Feldman said ‘Eyes on Canal’ is a participatory planning to make the Buckingham Canal, which is a manmade, saltwater and navigation canal, a livable place for residents of Chennai.
The canal, which runs parallel to the Coromandel coast in the north-south direction, was built in two phases from 1,800 to 1,882 and measures approximately 800 km from Vijayawada to Marakkanam. Within the Chennai Metropolitan Area, the canal connects three rivers - Kosasthalaiyar, Cooum and Adyar - that cut across Chennai.
Though the canal was primarily constructed to transport goods from Vijayawada to Madras, the canal helps manage floodwaters. The canal currently is faced with severe pollution woes with untreated sewage and solid waste let into the canal. Interestingly, there have been numerous attempts by government agencies to revive the canal, but it failed to generate any positive impact.
Feldman said the initiative would initially work on awareness walks, community engagement meetings and open ideas generation to create interest and ownership for the canal which has suffered collective abandonment.
Talking about GIZ programmes in Tamil Nadu, she said that the German agency is working on preparing a land use plan for Tamil Nadu. This comes after the German Agency for International Cooperation has tied up with the state government in helping develop state land use policy.
The agreement was signed between Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Department and German Agency for International Cooperation for land use planning and management project under Sustainable Urban and Industrial Development.
GIZ will provide national land use policy guidelines to the state and feed in state feedback to the nation, thus forming a linkage between the state and the nation.