The Tirunelveli Corporation’s project to bring drinking water from the Tamirabharani at Ariyanayagipuram at a cost of ₹230 crore is expected to be commissioned by September 30.
Once this project, funded by German development bank, KfW, is commissioned, it will enable the urban civic body to give 67,500 new drinking water connections to residents and will ensure the supply of 50 million litres of drinking water a day from Ariyanayagipuram, Corporation Commissioner P. Vijayalakshmi told reporters here on Saturday.
The corporation has spent another ₹4 crore to strengthen the existing drinking water distribution system by replacing weak pipes.
The corporation, which completed the first phase of underground drainage scheme in 2007 to save the Tamirabharani from being polluted, had signed an agreement with Larsen and Toubro to execute the second phase of the project at a cost of ₹289.01 crore. Once the second phase is over, it will be able to give 90,818 underground drainage connections for the benefit of 2,14,850 individuals in wards 1 - 7, 39 - 55 and part of ward 38.
When the first phase of the scheme was implemented in 2007 on an outlay of ₹52.26 crore, 10 wards – 13, 20, 21, 23, 24 (Palayamkottai zone) and 28, 30 to 33 (Melapalayam) were covered while nine wards in Thatchanallur, seven in Palayamkottai, six in Melapalayam and 13 in Tirunelveli were partially covered.
In the second phase, 24 wards will be covered fully and ward 38 partially.
In the third phase, to be executed at a cost of ₹440.19 crore, 18 wards will be covered fully and 13 wards partially.
As 50 % cost of this ₹729.20-crore project, meant for the second and third phases, will be borne by the Central government under the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) Scheme, it will be a relief to the corporation which had to bear 50% of the project cost in the first phase.
“The entire corporation area will be covered before December 31, 2021,” Ms. Vijayalakshmi said.
She said construction of the urban civic body’s Trade Centre would commence shortly on an outlay of ₹56.71 crore. Since districts of Kanniyakumari, Thoothukudi and Virudhunagar, all fall under the ‘influence area’ around the upcoming project (influence area up to 100 km), do not have a spacious hall for organising conventions or expositions though they house a good number of industries, the Corporation has proposed to construct the trade centre on the 7.44-acre Exhibition Grounds under the Centre-funded ‘Smart City’ programme.
She informed that the truck terminal coming up near Pettai is nearing completion and reconstruction of the Tirunelveli Junction Bus Stand on an outlay of ₹78.51 crore would be completed by May 31, 2020.
“To conserve energy, the corporation is replacing the existing sodium vapour lamps with LED lights at the cost of ₹29.30 crore and this work will be completed before July 31 this year,” she said.
