Chief Minister V. Narayanasamy on Wednesday laid the foundation stone for the Rs. 39.93-crore High and Low Tension Over Head Line conversion project in coastal areas of Puducherry. The project, involving conversion of the overhead lines into underground cables, is being funded by the World Bank under the Coastal Disaster Risk Reduction Project (CDRRP).
A senior official said that laying of underground cable lines in the coastal areas of Puducherry was a major step towards creating better infrastructure.
In coastal areas
Underground cables up to a length of 158 km would be laid in the coastal areas of Ganapathichetti Kulam, Periyakalapet, Chinnakalapet and Pillaichavady.
The service cables would also be underground and as many as 5,223 connections will benefit from the project.
The CDRRP project also includes setting up of HT interlink provision for the newly constructed 110/11 KV Venkata Nagar sub-station to a part of the city comprising the coastal areas of Vaithikuppam, Kuruchikuppam, Muthialpet, Solai Nagar and Gingee Salai.
The official said that the underground cable network was a safe method of power transmission and with conversion of overhead lines to underground cables, there would be reduction of line faults and uninterrupted power supply.
After the commissioning of the project, new service connections would be given to residents.
For culverts
The Chief Minister also laid the foundation stone for re-construction of culverts at Maravadi Street and Karuvadikuppam drain near the old distilleries. Sources said the bridges constructed at Karuvadikuppam and Vaithikuppam during the French regime had outlived its utility.
The Government had decided to demolish the structures and to reconstruct it as a two-lane bridge with 7.50 metre carriage way.
The project is also funded by the World Bank under CDRRP.
Revenue Minister M.O.H.F. Shahjahan, Electricity Minister R. Kamalakannan, Chief Secretary Manoj Parida, Joint Project Director (Technical), Project Implementation Agency V. Sathyamurthi participated.
