A few days ago, the Coimbatore Corporation had informed the Smart Cities Mission director Kunal Kumar that it hoped to complete the Quick Win component of the lake development project by June this year.
The Corporation gave the update because it had hoped to complete the component by March 31. The earlier deadline was at least a year ago.
The component involved developing an one-km stretch of the northern bund of the Ukkadam Big Tank and two parts of the Valangulam – the link connecting Trichy Road to Sungam Bypass Road and the area beneath the flyover.
The Corporation had floated tender for the Quick Win component, worth ₹89 crore, in April 2018.
Strengthening bund
The work involved strengthening the bund, landscaping the area, installing pews, play equipment for children, constructing walking/bicycling path, providing floating walkways leading to view points among others.
The Corporation had carved this portion from the over-all lake development project under the Smart Cities Mission, termed it Quick Win and floated tender first because it had said that it wanted to showcase to the city’s residents how its vision had translated into action and when it completed how the lakes could to recreation spots in the city.
Eight lakes
Besides the Quick Win, the Corporation had divided the over-all lake development project into three phases, covering all the eight lakes in the city, and pegged the cost at over ₹700 crore.
As the Corporation continued to make slow progress even in the Quick Win component, the State Government-imposed COVID-19 lockdown brought work to a complete halt.
After the Government eased some of the restrictions including construction, the Corporation resumed work, albeit at a slow pace.
As it hoped to gather steam to expedite the implementation to stick to the June 2020 deadline, the return of migrant labourers to their home states had thrown spanner in its plans, said the Corporation sources.
The civic body was hopeful that it could resume work with full speed but that was not to be as the workers had left, one after another after they learnt about special trains.
As things stand, the Corporation could not but extend its deadline and the civic body could possibly look at September or October as the revised deadline to complete the Quick Win component, the sources added.
