The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Water project in Tiruvottiyur to take off by March

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Tuesday, Dec 30, 2008
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Water project in Tiruvottiyur to take off by March

Deepa H Ramakrishnan

Tender process to be completed shortly

It will increase supply from 2.5 MLD to 59 MLD
Different slabs for charges to come into effect

CHENNAI: The Work on the drinking water supply project that will substantially augment the supply in the Tiruvottiyur municipality is set to take off by March next year.

The tendering process for the Rs.89-crore project, part of which will be funded under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission, is expected to be completed shortly.

Pipelines

Tiruvottiyur Municipal chairman R. Jayaraman said that after the project was commissioned, supply would increase from 2.5 million litres per day (MLD) to 59 MLD. Pipelines would be laid for 173 km, and six overhead tanks and six sumps would be constructed.

While 35 per cent of the project cost had been sanctioned under the JNNURM, the State government agreed to provide a subsidy of 15 per cent.

The Tamil Nadu Urban Finance and Infrastructure Development Corporation agreed to provide a loan equivalent to 25 per cent of the project cost. The municipality had to mobilise the rest through public deposits, he said.

The different slabs for deposits and charges for water that would come into force once the project was commissioned had been fixed. While no security deposit would be collected from urban poor, they would have to pay a consumption charge of Rs.8 for every 1,000 litres.

For houses with a built-up area of 300 square feet-3,000 square feet, the deposit would vary from Rs.3,000 to Rs.10,000. The consumption charges would be Rs.11 for 1,000 litres. Commercial establishments and industrial units would have to pay an initial deposit of Rs.30,000 a connection. They would be charged Rs.20 for 1,000 litres.

A long-pending demand

A full-fledged water supply scheme has been a long-pending demand of the 2.5 lakh residents, many of whom depend on the groundwater for drinking water.

Only 3,000 households in a few wards have access to piped water supply now. The municipality has three overhead tanks from which water cannot be pumped simultaneously.

The local body supplies water through 15 tankers, including 9 on contract for which Rs.80 lakh is paid in annual rent.

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