The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Minjur desalination plant work begins today

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Feb 25, 2007
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Minjur desalination plant work begins today

Staff Reporter

State and Union Ministers expected to participate in the function First phase expected to yield 15 million litres a year; cost of per kilolitre will be Rs.48.66

CHENNAI: The foundation stone for the much-awaited desalination plant near Minjur, being set up with foreign technical partnership, will be laid on Sunday.

The 100 million litres a day (mld) capacity plant at Kattupalli village near Minjur, north of Chennai, to be started under a public private partnership, is expected to augment water supply to the city. This is expected to meet chiefly the needs of the north Chennai industrial belt, and areas surrounding the Minjur aquifer. A Hyderabad-based organisation, IVRCL Infrastructures and Projects Limited, and its technical partner Befesa Construccion y Tecnologia Ambiental, Spain, will be involved in the construction of the treatment plant on a DBOOT (Design, Build, Own, Operate and Transfer) basis.

A Metrowater official said about 60 acres was provided by the Chennai Metrowater for the Rs.500-crore project. The first phase was expected to yield 15 million litres of water in a year.

According to the agreement, the plant would be functional in full capacity within 15 months of the construction.

The IVRCL has signed a water purchase agreement by which Metrowater would buy water in bulk for 25 years.

A spokesman from IVRCL Infrastructures and Projects said the cost of per kilolitre would be Rs.48.66.

Distribution of water

Metrowater would be involved in distribution of water from the plant, located 22 km north of the city. The project would be completed by June 2008, the spokesman added.

About 237 mld of seawater would be used to generate 100 mld of drinking water. The remaining quantity would be discharged into the sea, he said.

Meanwhile, Metrowater has called for consultancy arrangements to prepare a detailed project report for one more 100 mld capacity desalination plant in the southern part of the city.

Sites identified

The government has identified sites near Tirupporur for setting up the plant. They are likely to come on either side of the East Coast Road.

State Ministers M.K. Stalin, Arcot N. Veerasamy and K.P.P. Sami and Union Ministers Dayanidhi Maran, T.R. Baalu and A. Raja are expected to participate in the Minjur function.

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