Coimbatore Corporation has asked the Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage (TWAD) Board to complete the Kurichi and Kuniamuthur underground drainage project on time.
Commissioner P. Kumaravel Pandian told The Hindu that the civic body had asked the TWAD Board to complete the project on time and engage additional labour, if necessary, for the purpose.
The Board that is executing the ₹442 crore project for the Coimbatore Corporation has engaged Larsen and Toubro as contractor to provide underground drainage connection to the 16 wards that are spread over Kurichi and Kuniamuthur.
It started he work in November-December 2018 to provide sewerage connection to nearly 70,000 houses and other establishments by laying pipeline for 482.65km, constructing pumping stations, lift stations, five lift manholes and 17,654 ordinary manholes.
The Board’s project will serve the area till 2050, when the population is estimated to touch 5.17 lakh. At the time of starting the project, the Board had recorded a population of 2.97 lakh.
And, the Corporation is funding the project with the Government of India contributing ₹145.86 crore under the AMRUT scheme and the State Government Rs. 88.40 crore. It will borrow ₹163.54 crore from the Asian Development Bank to meet the remaining project cost.
The TWAD Board sources said based on the Corporation Commissioner’s instruction, the Board had asked the contractor to increase by 100 the number of labourers so that it completed the project in time.
At present, 400 labourers worked on the project.
Soon after the Central and State governments imposed COVID-19 lockdown restrictions, the contractor could not proceed with the work and when they eased a few restrictions, it could not resume work because the migrant labourers had returned home.
To make good the delay of two to three months, the Corporation had asked the Board to engage additional labourers and it had in turn directed the contractor to do so.
As of October 13, the Board had completed 53% of the project and that included construction of 13 of 30 pumping stations and eight lift stations.
The Board sources further said that in constructing a few lift stations, the contractor had faced objections from people. The Board had convey the residents’ protest in Sathya Sai Nagar, Arputham Nagar, Rajagopalan Nagar and a few other places so that the Corporation could take steps to solve the problem.
As and when it did, the Board would proceed with the work and complete the entire project without delay, by December 2021, they added.
