The Chennai Corporation has extended the deadline for completion of stormwater drains in the Velachery, and north and south Buckingham Canal watersheds.
The civic body has attributed the delay in commissioning the project to illegal sewer inlets into stormwater drains, restrictions imposed by the traffic police, and shifting of utilities by telecom service providers and other agencies.
The deadline for the north Buckingham canal watershed has been extended from September 30 to December 31, 2013, and the deadline for the completion of the drains that will carry water to the south Buckingham Canal has been extended to March 31, 2014. Work in the south Buckingham canal watershed has been delayed because of traffic police restrictions for on various roads including Gandhi Mandapam Road.
The revised deadline for the completion of the work in the Velachery watershed is March 25, 2014. The contractor was unable to complete the work by September 25, the earlier deadline, due to delays in the removal of encroachments.
In a bid to complete the work, the Corporation had revoked its earlier order terminating the contract for construction of the drains in many of the watersheds a few months ago.
The civic body will incur an expenditure of Rs. 407.44 crore for the JNNURM project, being implemented at an estimated cost of Rs. 1447.91 crore. Inundation of roads including Kalki Krishnamurthy Salai, Indira Nagar 4 Avenue and Kalakshetra Main Road will reduce after the work is completed
Mayor Saidai Duraisamy on Friday, at the Corporation council meeting, stressed the need for exploring the option of using pipelines, instead of stormwater drains, for draining rainwater from neighbourhoods. The specially designed pipelines are expected to prevent illegal inlets into stormwater drains.
On Wednesday, the civic body commenced plugging illegal sewer connections of commercial buildings identified by its Public Health Department.
