The Rs. 533.38-crore Nemmeli desalination project is ready for trial run.
The second desalination plant in the city, it will have the capacity to treat 100 million litres of water a day (MLD). According to sources, civil work at the plant located about 35 km south of Chennai, along East Coast Road, was recently completed.
Expected to be commissioned in a few months, the plant will provide piped water to residents of south Chennai and the newly merged areas.
At present, many of the newly-merged areas in the southern fringes of the city do not receive enough water to meet their daily requirements. The new plant is expected to offset the gap of resources in the city’s fast-drying reservoirs.
While VA Tech Wabag has been entrusted with construction of the plant, L&T Limited has taken up the work to lay a 65-km-long pipeline from the plant and build underground sumps en route, an official said.
Pipelines to transmit treated water to various parts of south Chennai are ready.
Minister for municipal administration and rural development K.P. Munusamy who recently inspected the Rs. 533.38-crore project said the desalination plant would be inaugurated by Chief Minister Jayalalithaa.
Besides transmitting water to distribution stations in Tiruvanmiyur and Velachery, work is on to construct water distribution stations at Nemmeli and Akkarai.
Mr. Munusamy and Metrowater officials recently reviewed ongoing work at the distribution station in Akkarai and pipeline-laying across south Buckingham canal.
Unlike the 100 MLD desalination plant in Minjur, which is operated by Chennai Water Desalination Limited on a design, build, own, operate and transfer basis, the one at Nemmeli will be owned by Chennai Metrowater.
At present, Metrowater supplies about 830 MLD to the city through pipelines and tankers.
