Underground drainage likely to be revamped in five months

Mayor says KUIDFC has been instructed to complete all project works by December

The revamping of underground sewage network and associated facilities in Surathkal area, built more than a decade ago by availing of loan from Asian Development Bank (ADB), is expected to be completed by this year-end, according to Mayor Premananda Shetty.

The Karnataka Urban Infrastructure Development and Finance Corporation (KUIDFC) took up the ₹59-crore revamping project for Mangaluru City Corporation in October 2018. It is going on under the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) Scheme of the Union government.

Mr. Shetty, who reviewed the progress of the project on Wednesday, told

The Hindu that of the 856 laterite stone manholes that are being converted into RCC manholes, 644 are ready. They are on the sides of storm-water drains.

The Mayor said that of the nine missing link works (where underground draiange network is not linked), six works have been completed.

The four wet wells, at Munchur, Hosabettu, Kulai and Idya, are linked to the 16.5 million litres-a-day (MLD) capacity sewage treatment plant (STP) in Surathkal.

The pumpsets in the wet wells and the STP are not in order. Hence, the KUIDFC has been instructed to change them. Orders have been placed to purchase pumpsets and other equipment required for the replacement. Necessary approvals for additional works were given on March 26. All wet wells, except the one at Idya, will be made operational by October-end.

He said that many manholes in the Surathkal area are overflowing. The corporation officials have been instructed to clean them using machines.

The Mayor said that the total project cost also comprised building a 13-km approach road to access manholes.

Mr. Shetty said that the KUIDFC has been instructed to complete all project works, except the Idya wet well work, by this December to enable people to get connections for their houses later. There are issues related to blocking the trunk line linked to the Idya wet well by residents. Hence, they will have to be sorted out first.

The Mayor said that though constructed more than a decade ago, people have not been able to connect sewer lines of their houses to the underground draiange network due to various issues that cropped up later. Now, the KUIDFC has been asked to complete the revamping project within a time frame, i.e., by this year-end.

Of the 360-km-long network laid at an estimated cost of ₹218 crore in the city under Phase I of the ADB-funded project, 90-km-long underground pipelines from Hosabettu, Kulai, Katipalla and Surathkal areas have been connected to the STP in Surathkal.