The trenches on the arterial New Colony road leave one wondering how long the underground drainage work will stretch. With the work still going on in some parts of the city, it will take some more time for the works to be completed.
The much-delayed underground drainage covering major parts of the city, taken up under the Centrally-sponsored Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission, is inching towards completion. Having overrun the schedule by one-and-a-half- year, it is expected to take nearly one more year.
With the work on trunk mains going on now in the central parts, another 4 km of the mains and 15 km of network is yet to be completed. The mains will be linked to two pump houses to come up at Gnanapuram and Chavulamadum. From the Gnanapuram pump house sewage will be pumped to the Visakhapatnam Port Trust's 10 mld treatment plant for the port's use. The other pump house at Chavulamadum will be linked to the 38 mld STP at Old Sewage Farm presently treating only 12 mld.
The entire work, costing Rs.243.71 crore, has been divided into four packages and the one covering the central parts of the city is the major one and was to be completed in three years from November, 2007, when it was launched. The other two packages have a completion period of two years and 95 per cent of it is completed, according to officials. Package one, comprising Mudasarlova area, has already been completed.
Pump houses
The two pump houses in the other packages will come up at Vimannagar and Butchirajupalem and near the polymers unit. The pump houses will be linked to the STP at Narava. The Narava STP is proposed with a capacity of 108 mld projected to meet the city's requirement till 2030. However, only 50 per cent of it is being installed now.
The physical works of the STP at Narava are expected to be completed in the next two months and mechanical works, comprising two reactors and four clarifiers, will begin then, according to GVMC Executive Engineer K. Ramamohana Rao. Land problems for pump houses, the treatment plant at Narava and fund crunch have led to the inordinate delay in completing the UGD. Besides, permission is yet to be sanctioned by the Railways to lay the lines across the track at seven places. The required money has been paid and permission is expected soon.
Two STPs -- at Mudarsarlova and Appu Ghar -- of a total capacity of 38 mld are already functioning.
Around Rs.195 crore has already been spent on the scheme. The entire UGD work is expected to be completed by next February/March. The extension of the urban mission by two more years also has come as a breather to the GVMC.
